Maybe this can help someone: Looking back I've had OCD for all of my life. But about 2 years ago it peaked. Never been so scared in my life. The scariest obsessions I had were about suicide, harm and existentialism. I was having panic attacks and hefty bouts of depression (further inducing the suicide theme). After a while I got diagnosed with OCD. Suddenly my whole life made sense. I am doing great now. Here'e what helped me the most: - Acceptance and Commitment Therapy - Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy Mindsets: - Learn as much about OCD as you can. Learn the game it plays. - Understanding that embracing uncertainty is a practice. It's sweaty work, but you get better at it. Do it with consistently with attitude. - Remember metaphorically that to get to that 'pot of gold' you have to 'fight the dragon'. Do stuff you care about, even if you're scared sh*tless. You will thank yourself later. Books that helped me tremendously: - You Are Not A Rock (Mark Freeman) - The Happiness Trap (Russ Harris) - Man's Search For Meaning (Victor Frankl) - Help And Hope for Your Nerves (Claire Weekes)
I have this and it’s so much worse going down the rabbit but hole of what’s really going in and about to gaping and I can’t go back to ignorance is bliss plus severe anxiety/adhd/depression etc and can’t take ssri, dole dbt a long time ago and I’m Just getting way worse.. I’m glad you’re feeling much better. Don’t know what to do and feels like no hope, if pre 2020 still bad but so much worse now
Went through the same themes and process the last few years. I'm glad to see someone else make it to the other side. To anyone going through this, it feels bottomless and completely hopeless, but it's not. You just NEED to practice these mindsets and therapies (can be self administered if you don't have OCD Therapists in your area; just need to read up), resist compulsions, and with time and practice, the storm passes.
OCD is pure hell. I suffered from HOCD, intrusive thoughts I was attracted to my parents/sisters/friends, and intrusive thoughts that made me think I was going crazy. I would ruminate, search online, do mental compulsions, anything to relieve the anxiety and fear it would cause me. The "what ifs" would follow me morning, noon, and night. The only relief I would get was when I would sleep (if I could fall asleep). Even when I woke up at 2am, it would be consuming my mind. It wasn't until I accept all those possibilities and cut compulsions, that it started to get much better. I look back now on how worried I was, and get upset that I wasted so much time on nothing. Luckily, I only suffered for a couple months. I feel for those who have suffered for years.
@@1675loof You just need to accept it's a possibility. You're retraining your brain that these thoughts don't bother you. Everyone has intrusive thoughts. The difference between us and them are they but value behind those thoughts.
@@TheCrayonMan529 but how do I retrain my mind? I don't know what or how to do it.can you specify exactly what you did.i just don't know how to deal with a thought that tells me I'm attracted to my mom.
@@1675loof I just keep saying "if it's true that I am, there's nothing I can do about it". That's what I say. You don't fight it. Not fighting doesn't mean give into the thought, but not engaging in it.
I cured my OCD. My OCD was so bad to the point where I couldn’t go 1 minute without an intrusive thought. I have now gotten to the point where I have zero intrusive thoughts and immune to remission. This is how I did it. I will try to explain this as simply as possible… I like to use the analogy of the white elephant. If you told someone (with or without ocd) to not think of a white elephant it would be impossible for them not to think of a white elephant. Although, if you told someone to not think of a white elephant but they were uninterested in playing the game, they would have no problem and would just go on with whatever they were doing. This is basically what ocd is and how you cure ocd. Because our brians are wired differently than others we have a constant game of this going on in our head. To stop the thoughts you need to stop playing the game. The only reason you can’t stop the intrusive thoughts is because you are trying to play a game to not think them. Instead when you feel them coming simply decide not to “play”. This is definitely easier said than done because at first the thoughts just come automatically. Overtime it gets easier I promise. It took me months for this to cure my OCD. It’s not an overnight thing. Plz respond with any questions you might have
@@agressiveabhiii540 I got better and recently just fell back into it, I also thought around it like this guy and the method worked for me but it’s like anything in life, consistency is key.
Yes definitely, you are saying absolutely right. But please be patience who are suffering from ocd. You are going to be okay. I am suffering from almost 1 year, but thank God my OCD not completely gone but very improvement I am so happy
I was diagnosed with OCD in the 1980s. It made for a very difficult childhood. I was put on several different medications. However, the unending love from my parents is how I survived.
Thank you for this! There is a large 4th “bucket” which is mental compulsions and is very common! This can look like reassurance seeking, review of past events, emotional checking, etc. These compulsions are virtually undetectable by anyone but the sufferer. It’s also important to note that obsessions can be harm related, religious, sexual, and relationship based. It’s the taboo nature of the obsessions that can keep people from seeking treatment and lead to intense shame and disgust with oneself. It is commonly accepted that OCD often presents in the arenas in which the sufferer values the most, I.e., I care about my relationship to God…I have obsessions about going to hell. Such a complex issue. Thank you for tackling it!!!
Absolutely! And so very difficult to treat as the obsession is followed by the ritualizing/reassurance in a matter of milliseconds - and entirely 'between the ears' - so you can't 'see' when it is happening to catch it to prevent those hallmark 'responses'.
And to add to that last point, the possibility of something happening can be so frightening that these superstitious actions, that have no real effect on the risk, become engrained neurologically.
To someone not having ocd, I’m very happy that most people on this world don’t have it, while tears in my eyes, please appreciate that you are healthy,
@@rabbittko1421 You don't know what you don't know. People have no idea how fortunate they are if they are relatively mentally well. If you only recently got OCD, it's important to act on it quickly, as it is still relatively weak and you are probably quite young so your brain is plastic. Get it treated asap before it lays down patterns in your brain.
This podcast is just amazing. As someone who "had" OCD as a child, and after years of treatment has almost no symproms left, this episode really touched my heart. For anyone in this comment section who never dealt with this, andrew described pretty well in my opinion what it is. I wanted to open a little discussion in regards o childhood ocd, because my mom was the one who "saved" me from OCD, she went to therapy for ocd in order to help me, she studied tactis and things she should say to help, she even developed her own way of "treating " ocd by the end, and honestly she ended up being better than any CBT out there. She saved me, and i think this is an aspect of treatment for children with OCD that i see very little talks about
Wow...your comment....my son has OCD (at least I think so) and there are no therapists nearby so I this gives me hope that your mom was able to help you so much.
Reading about your mother made me cry like a baby. Not everyone is as lucky as you are. Not every mother is as empathetic as yours. I have OCD since I was a child. It has been 20 years. As life happened, I suffered with 2 major traumas and several minor ones. I have been oppressed all my life and subjected to domestic violence. I have extreme fears, phobias and anxiety. I have constant self doubt. Even if I see something I dont trust that I see that. In my heart I know what I feel and think and do is right but i still need constant validation. I always feel that I am at fault when deep down in my heart I know that I am not. I suffer from guilt complex. I suffer from bipolar and severe depression. My life is so bleak that there are days when I wonder why am I even living? Nowadays I wonder if i should continue living with NO sense of self at all?? On top of that what makes it worse is that I have no one who understands my condition. Neither my parents nor siblings. My parents ignored me saying that I was just overthinking. I am still dependent on them until I get married. I tried to communicate but they badly disregarded what I felt and was trying to share. My siblings never understood me as well. I have no friends as I have social anxiety. There is no one who would listen to me. I just began to watch these videos so that I could try and heal myself. I am from that part of the world where mental issues are a big taboo and daughters are considered inferior to sons. So got no proper education. Cant get a job to get independent. Neither I live in that part of the world where I could get any support from the government or organisations. Despite of my situation I have been loving and caring throughout my life. I am a person with high degree of empathy. Unfortunately, no one bothers to have empathy for me. I am always taken for granted. It felt so good to know there are people who have someone to have their back. It is rare and precious.❤
I just want to say, there is hope. I am living with peace in my life. I know it can get so dark and you may feel alone, I swesr you are not. It took 30 years form me to be free from OCD. Part of me lives with acceptance of what I would call being in recovery. I doany things to stay healthy and aware. I never thought I would be free from OCD feeling out of control. 90% of the OCD does not paralyze me anymore. Keep trying don't give up you are not alone and you deserve peace🌈💛
My son was diagnosed with OCD at 13. He was tested with an IQ of 131 in 5th grade and has always had difficulty in school. Musically gifted and philosophical minded. I wish you could work with him and study his brain! He’s an amazing kid who suffers in ways most don’t understand.
Schools aren't good for kids with high IQ who suck everything in. Way too much stimulus. Try to teaching him visualizing not sucking in all of the negative energy. We still have caveman brains who met maybe 30 people in their lives. They fill up and they are either going ground themselves through OCD, yelling at their parents, cutting themselves, drugs, etc. Exercise is good...but most schools took that away. Make school as painful, overstimulated, boring as possible. Give them no active participation or sovereignty then blame and drug the kids. It's gross.
Same here. I have 3 kids with OCD, but my son who's now 21 was diagnosed as a young teen, is also highly intelligent, unusually gifted in musical ability and philosophically minded. He refused medications, but responded really well to twice weekly therapy for several years. He's in law school now, doing an internship at the state capital and performs in theater. OCD still tries to give him a run for his money, but he's doing fabulously and it gives me hope for his sister who we can't manage to help find quite the right tools for.
Dr.Huberman, I just wanted take a moment out and thank you for the amazing work you provide all your viewers. You’ve had an enormous positive impact on my life, and I’m sure the same goes for many of your other viewers. Your contribution to society through the work you’re doing here is remarkable. Thank you!
From someone who had severe OCD once, thank you Andrew, for shedding light on this condition. My life’s been saved due to CBT therapy, SSRI’s, exercise, nutraceuticals, lifestyle changes and Sauna therapy.
I am so sorry guys as I just saw your comments now. I usually don't check up on my comments on youtube. OCD runs very high in my family and I think I found the best result with my protocol. #1. I don't sleep beyond 2am and aim for 1am. This took compulsions down by half, getting my circadian rhythm right. Wake up in the morning and did bright light therapy. #2. SSRI I take is Zoloft. Nasty sides. If you're new to the SSRI game, i'd suggest going with something more selective. Escitalapram I heard is great. #3. I did Sauna therapy 3 - 5 times a week for the last 3-4 years. I read a large cohort study on how Sauna goers are the least likely to get Psychosis. Started making me think that it'd help OCD. I was right. #4. N-Acetyl-Cystiene for 3 years. I stopped recently. It was pretty solid. #5. High dose Vitamin D. 7-8000 IU's daily. Had to stop it due to my VItamin D level being so high lol, so please get it checked and cater to your optimized route. #6. And probably the second best or 1B to Zoloft (1a), was TRT. I realized my test levels where at 260 ng/dl, or lower I think (Free) and Total of 9 (which was low af). I use TRT compounded cream, and I think the DHT that is found in the activation of 5ar (on skin) , is responsible for good mental health. My working theory is DHT helps neurosteroids connect better, facilitating communication of neurotransmitters. Easy way to get this for Non-males who have OCD, is creatine.
THANK YOU for this TREMENDOUSLY HELPFUL episode Andrew! As someone who has suffered from OCD since childhood- ultimately manifesting into an intense ED- I found your clarity in discussing OCD vs. OCPD to be particularly valuable. I also appreciate your discussion of the newer therapies that are starting to be studied and used for OCD treatment. While I've has lots of therapy (including CBT) during my struggles, ultimately what helped me recover the most was developing a profound joy and passion for strength training, and also realizing that I didn't want anything (like obsessions and rituals) to own me and control my life. Thank you again for your time and effort in educating us on here, I always look forward to spending time with you while watching and learning🙏💜🤗
I realized my daughter had OCD just a few years ago, as I thought she just had ADHD. She's 24 now, but starting in elementary school she had to organize things in specific ways. While doing homework she kept writing, erasing, and rewriting everything and it took forever for her to to complete any assignment. As she got older, if someone touched any of her personal items she would throw a fit. I had been listening to various podcast on mental health issues and realized I had similar issues while growing up and now I was seeing it in her. I thought I just had anxiety starting oat a young age and didn't realize that my own behaviors were indicative of OCD. I found her a great therapist that uses Exposure and Response Prevention therapy. It has been amazing for her.
I could remember several years ago, I was diagnosed with OCD. Also suffered severe depression and mental disorder. Not until my wife recommended me to psilocybin mushrooms treatment. Psilocybin treatment saved my life honestly. 8 years totally clean. Never thought I would be saying this about mushrooms.
Can you help me with the reliable source 🙏. I'm 56 and have suffered for years with addiction, anxiety and severe ptsd, I got my panic attacks under control myself years ago and they have come back with a vengeance, I'm constantly trying to take full breaths but can't get the full satisfying breath out, it's absolutely crippling me, i live in Germany. I don't know much about these mushrooms. Really need a reliable source!! Can't wait to get them
YES very sure of Dr.benfungi. I have the same experience with anxiety, depression, PTSD and addiction and Mushrooms definitely made a huge huge difference to why am clean today.
100% agree I used to have Psychosis and paranoid thoughts like "people thinking about me talking about me etc. Very odd behavior after getting off Adderall from 7-16. Antidepressants at 18-29. 31 now. I took way to much, but took about 20g of Gold caps (Psilocybin containing mushroom) I analyzed my entire life. The emotions that came out helped me understand behavior etc more. Wont ever need to do it again because I'm happy and contempt forever, but I wish more people did this to alter their perception of reality. Would help with healing much trauma
Yes he's Dr.benfungi.Shrooms to me is a natrual healer. I know a guy who has used mushrooms in the same way and they have really helped him. mah dudes have safe trips all.
This podcast is a beacon of hope for me....I have been struggling with severe "Harm OCD" for the past two and a half years. Sometimes it just takes that one person to tell you you're not crazy or evil. I don't want ANY of these thoughts of hurting people, but now I believe once again that I will get through this. Thank you Andrew. 🙏
Hey guys. This is not reassurance haha but I understand what you’re going through. And I wanna share a couple things you guys can try, these two to create a little distance between you and the mind 1. Ask yourself who truly you are, the fact that you are not these thoughts, if you keep these thoughts, urges, emotions aside who really are you? Your true nature of being a complete life will come up, the aliveness within you will come up. 2. Always remember that distinction between what’s you and what is yours. Like the memories you have, the imaginations you have, they are yours but they cannot be you. Because they’re acquired. Just this little distance between what is you and what is not you can bring immense peace. How to find yourself? List things that is not you, like this device you’re reading this on, its not you. The clothes you’re wearing is not you. The imaginations, the memories, the opinions. They’re yours for sure. Still not you. 3. And please be a little kinder to yourself, a little loving to yourself. Take care :)
I’ve had OCD chronically since I was eight. I’m 59 now and listening to this podcast, I honestly now understand my own brain much more than l have ever done. Mine includes mostly intrusive thoughts, harm OCD and scrupulosity. My thirties and fourties’ were lost to it. Right down to sleeping in my cupboard and getting up at dawn to measure the angles of the rising sun’s light coming in the window so I knew we’d be safe from something catching fire. It was my universe, and your explanation of how our view narrows with this anxiety is spot on. I also have severe agoraphobia, DPDR, complicated grief, and chronic pain from diabetic neuropathy, so it can get a little tricky trying to work on recovery. I have been suicidal several times, but not now and I know how to deal with that nowadays. CBTis hardest for me because I always believe I’ll never sleep unless I settle the compulsive thought. And my mind will jolt me awake if I try to resist and sleep. But now, listening to you, I’ve realised I try to jump in to far too soon. I’ve had help on and off, at the moment I can’t really afford it. But I’m going to hang in there and keep trying. I’m on Sertraline, which has helped, but now I’m going to commit to the CBT as well, but not try to do it all at once. My late mum literally saved me so many times with her understanding of OCD and her understanding of me, now she’s passed I want to keep working on recovery for her, so she’s at peace, as well as for myself. Thank you so much for uploading this, it will help more people than you can ever know.
Please do chin mudra or Gyan mudra everyday for atleast 30 minutes. It will cure all your mental issues, including ocd. Also, add meditation and pranayama to your routine if you want more improvement in all aspects of your life. Search about Ashtanga yoga, to understand the complete package of yoga. Meditation and pranayama is a part of Ashtanga yoga. For the mudra,Just join your thumb and index finger together with a very slight pressure (don't overdo the pressure, otherwise it won't work. Also make sure you don't have pressure anywhere else in your hand and are in a very relaxed position). It changed me completely.
Great episode as always, but very important to point out that obsessions are, more often than not actually, non-behavioral, involving mental compulsions, such as rumination and mental checking. It's a very common misconception that compulsions must mirror those more classically described examples, like hand washing and counting, but this is not at all the case and contributes to misdiagnosis.
Thank you so much for starting out this podcast shedding light on how OCD is completely misunderstood by the general public. This is such a great service to everyone suffering with this chronic condition- thank you so much for this podcast!
Wow…I have so much to share/say and comment but I will attempt to be judicious with my words. 1. I have OCD and saw immense benefits from a combination of SSRI’s and ERP coupled with an anti-seizure med. 2. The link between GABA and OCD is fascinating. The addition of an anti-seizure med increased my ability to fully engage in ERP, sit with anxiety and better manage my behavioral responses. I also found mindfulness to be very akin to ERP. Allowing thoughts to be there without the attempt to identify with them…etc. 3. The correlation between hormones and OCD is significant. My OCD became very debilitating during peri menopause and a lot of women can develop postpartum OCD who did not show clinically relevant YBOCS scores before pregnancy. 4. I began taking Inositol at 4G and it helped a great deal in reducing my prescription medication. As a side note…the work around Inositol and insulin resistance is awesome. 5. There are some fascinating researchers/clinicians who specialize in OCD. I am getting my PMHNP (psychiatric NP) and have done a podcast on my experiences with OCD, recovery and resources (Pretty Spiritual Podcast episode 72). My attempt at brevity wasn’t successful, but it could talk all day about OCD and perspective in recovery. THANK YOU for being so thorough and delicate in your research and delivery!!
Thank you for sharing. That is all very informative. No need to apologize for thoroughness. I personally have never been considered concise. All the best, Andrew
Thanks for your thoughts! Where/how can I find help for my OCD which emerged after trauma and is completely debilitating? I don't even know where to start or what to look for. Sounds like you might have some ideas?
One of my favourite lines in worthing though OCD is "maybe, maybe not", "I am safe", "this too shall pass" I have tried CBD/THC but feel it just opened some panic attack pathway in my brain.
@@FireIceGamer Funny, terrifying edibles trip that put me in the hospital took my already-extant OCD - which is certainly a reason the trip was so bad - and made it extreme. Then I got hooked on prescription benzos (thanks, doc) and that made recovery extremely difficult. Thankfully, I have access to the best therapies and healers money can buy. Or I'd have committed suicide or been committed forever many years ago.
This helps to understand those affected. We are all thankful for professor Andrew Huberman spreading the science in this accessible and comprehensible form 🙏
This is amazing. I think this might be the beginning of me fighting back. When I was 11 yo, I knew something was not right, because I had to read every word a few times to make sure none was missed. Didn’t know it is OCD until I’m 34. More people should see this.
I can't remember a time where I maintained this much undivided attention to a podcast as much as listening to this one. Can't believe I've just discovered your podcasts! Very thorough and informative.
Thank you for bringing awareness to this horrible disorder. I’ve had it for my entire life and it almost led to my suicide in 2019. It’s been a long and painful path, but I have incorporated exposure and response prevention into my every day life.
im at my lowest right now been better had it worse before then it got better now its worse in different ways and i dont know what to do the compulsions are swallowing me alive
@@1C1V1 i promise if you get an ocd therapist it will change your life. Its hard work but its harder suffering every day with this bullshit disorder. Best of luck hang in there one day at a time
I was diagnosed with ocd at age 28. It peaked while I was pregnant with my 4th child. I had no idea what it was I thought I was just really anxious. I thought OCD was just needing things in order. I suffer many themes of OCD. I don’t do physical compulsions, I have reassurance seeking behaviors. I also check mentally by looking at people or I also avoid people that trigger me. It did become somewhat debilitating for me. I wanted to stay in bed all day but knew I couldn’t. I forced myself out of bed. I didn’t want to do simple things like drive anywhere or go grocery shopping cause it was super triggering. I attempted while pregnant to take my life. Ended up in a mental hospital for more than a week. The mental pain and agony is horrible. I wouldn’t wish it upon my worst enemy. Being aware of it has made it easier for me to tell ocd is a liar. But it reoccurs. I have days where things get better and then I have really really bad days. I take medication but I need to learn how to actually keep it in check with a therapist. Wishing luck on everyone suffering with this. Which also comes with depression and SI.
I have OCD. And the thing that I often don't notice is it's DELIBITATING. It has made me very weak. Now I'll try my best in life to make things balanced and overcome this disease. May Allah(God) helps us all in recovering and healing.
I have been fighting OCD my whole life. It was at its peak for 2 years,and i could not explain all the things i survived but it's so horrifying. Many different SSRI, anxiety and anti-psychotic medications could not help me a bit in my case. I overcame it eventually. The path of overcome going to be different for all of us.But you can do it, you just can't believe it, but I'm sure you will. 🙏🙏
I got 13 minutes in and i was sobbing because i feel like this is what ive needed to hear for so long. Every therapist ive ever seen never knows what to do with me and i never knew how to let them in on it...but hearing you break this condition down in processing it word by word going "oh my god thats my whole life" Ive avoided therapists for a long time now because of medications and how much they kill me as a person, but I've always been misdiagnosed with bipolar type 2 and schizophrenia by some very horrible psychologists pushing medications on me. I never felt true to those diagnoses so i never said them to anyone, and the medications made me suffer more. I feel like my peak was in 2021 at 23 years old, where it all unfolded the most, and i feel like im losing my life to it, more than my chronic pain and other mental illnesses.
@@skybirdnomad honestly, I feel like it's because there's a lot of therapists unequipped for heavier cases. Sometimes the healthcare system just decides to give you a therapist made for helping people with less complex mental issues or a psychologist that really wants you to try 15 different prescriptions I think we need a reform in the mental health system and how diagnoses go about.
Thank you! Accidently I got my OCDs under control because I was getting rid of wasteful thoughts for some 10+ years. Mostly by recognition and stopping and replacing with things like gratefulness. Learning about all this would have made it so much easier but now I can see what I was handling. I was such a mess!
That’s good that you got it taken care of. For me, I was able to get rid of different specific themes. But then another theme would pop up and it would take a while before I could face that one. ERP has been helpful.
I was diagnosed with OCD and ADHD way back in the day (80’s) when it was very rare for pre-teen girls to be diagnosed as such. I refused medication back then because I was so afraid of how it would impact my brain. As an adult, I finally gave myself permission to try adderall to see if it would help. Folks…only 10mg and I was finally able to articulate my thoughts and feelings, to the point that CBT (which wasn’t helpful to that point) became incredible! I no longer take adderall, but for the time of that initial understanding of myself and some past trauma, it was key for me. Dr. Huberman, both of my twin sons have that same transient, grunting tick! They’re adults now and only notice it when they are exhausted. I’ll let them know they’re not alone.
I think it's wise to refuse medication sometimes and as you point out it's often a very low dose that causes change and by taking medication one is introducing on a unnatural balance in the brain soup.. people who are prone to addiction especially are often responsible enough to accept fvery low doses. often things like nortriptyline and or trazodone are used to treat pain and sleep disorders respectively and with very low doses
OCD + ADHD can be quite dangerous. Adderall will seem to help ADHD, but it WILL worsen OCD and OCD will absolutely dominate everything else! ADHD is low dopamine in particular neuronal paths, and OCD is high noradrenaline, low serotonin. Since adderall will release them both in the brain, it can trigger complex issues. Noradrenaline and dopamine are quite similar and is hard to focus on one particular thing! Perhaps methamphetamine is the only good approach in this situation!
@@goodoleboy2525 I’m not a scientist but I can say that, from personal experience, stimulants helped to slow my brain down enough to box my thoughts and feelings into separate sentences. I’m a teacher and I think of it like a graphic organizer I’d give some of my students to plan their writing. For some reason, I felt overstimulated when I didn’t have a stimulant in my system. I’ve been told it’s a trauma response from some unsafe situations in childhood where I had to be hyper-vigilant about certain things in order to survive. But I’m still sorting through all that in therapy. The brain-body connection is fascinating!!
My mom took me to the doctor when I was 12 for the many compulsions and rituals I would perform throughout my day at home and in school, the doctor told her that as long as it didn’t affect anyone else’s life & only affected Mine that I didn’t need treatment & I was fine & simply exhibiting great habits of cleaning & organization that would only serve me for the better in my future. I had Zero idea there was even medication for OCD until I was in my late 20’s & completely time blind & out of control of my life & mind. I pray parents, friends, humans, that see this share it with as many individuals as they can because knowledge is power & the sooner you become educated the faster & easier it is to implement some of these life changing tools that Dr. Huberman has been so kind to share with us. Thank You Doctor Andrew Huberman you’ve helped me change so MANY areas of my life for the absolute best!😊👏🏽
One mushroom trip did more for my OCD than YEARS of intense therapy. Crazy the power of psychedelics. Hope more research goes into the use of them for OCD because anecdotally, they saved my life.
@Isak Tougaard It had nothing to do with what I experienced during my trip. It had everything to do with the change in brain chemistry following. I like the way Michael Pollan describes psilocybin’s effects on OCD: An OCD brain is like a snowglobe that has sat resting. Everything stays in one place (repeated patterns, thoughts, behaviours) & it is difficult, near impossible, to create change. Psilocybin mushrooms are able to come by & give the snowglobe a gentle shake. The snowflakes will float around & eventually reposition themselves, in a completely different way, allowing the person experiencing OCD to see things, truly, from a new perspective. That is the exact shift I experienced. I always say when talking about psilocybin mushrooms “my entire brain chemistry changed” because it’s the best words I can use to describe the shift. One year later & I am still experiencing the effects of the shift.
@Isak Tougaard Very interesting! I have a very good friend that I took the mushrooms with & over the past year, we frequently discuss the trip, the effects, etc, as a way to integrate but also because it’s just endlessly fascinating how profound it was. It’s hard not to discuss! In addition, I did a lot of reading to understand certain themes that came up during the trip. I still go to therapy regularly, but I have now discovered a spiritual community in my city that has given me that connection to community, while allowing me to integrate further. So much work has been done since the psilocybin trip & the integration has been equally as important as the trip itself! I felt the brain-shift immediately, but long term implementation of new thought-patterns has definitely come during the integration!
@Isak Tougaard Very interesting! I have a very good friend that I took the mushrooms with & over the past year, we frequently discuss the trip, the effects, etc, as a way to integrate but also because it’s just endlessly fascinating how profound it was. It’s hard not to discuss! In addition, I did a lot of reading to understand certain themes that came up during the trip. I still go to therapy regularly, but I have now discovered a spiritual community in my city that has given me that connection to community, while allowing me to integrate further. So much work has been done since the psilocybin trip & the integration has been equally as important as the trip itself! I felt the brain-shift immediately, but long term implementation of new thought-patterns has definitely come during the integration!
Thats cool however the purpose of the mushroom is to damage the brain of the animal trying to eat the mushroom (disorganize its thought patterns and perceptions), so we need to be very careful with it.
Thank you for this episode. I have OCPD (I'm an engineer), but developed some OCD thinking after betrayal in my marriage as well as a later scary health issue. I'm still working my way back to mental and emotional health. I've lost my ability to focus like I once did, because my thoughts draw me away from what I'm trying to accomplish. I really want my productivity back in my work as I miss the enjoyment of the process that I once could do.
My mom always told me that after we die we will feel the pain we caused to other people. I found this here to be helpful in my own healing journey "O SON OF SPIRIT! My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting." -Baha'i Hidden Words #1 Arabic
As someone that has struggled with OCD for the better part of a decade, this podcast has definitely given me so much validation and reassurance. Thanks Professor
I am glad you mentioned the darker part of OCD thoughts because I have suffered from things that made me feel bad and have made me think bad things and do bad things and regret and feel disgusted with myself because of the compulsion. I have found an amazing way that deals with it and feel way better. This gonna sound wish-washy till it all makes sense. Meditation brings attention to the breath, at first you suck and you still suck the second time but after like 3 times you learn to bring attention to the breath(I like to think of it as instead of initiating attention then maintaining attention I am constantly initiating attention which helps me) after the meditation training you will be able to change the subject of your focus and thus not allow the compulsion to take place tips are counting bricks, thinking about games your planing to play, plans, anything to get your attention off. Warning about the thoughts I have had and now don't get any more or should I say, less frequently are, murder, grape, arson hate, violence, self-harm and doing something gross. I am not proud of having thought of this and I want to make that very clear. The flip side is nice things like doing something nice for someone or thinking something overly positive in a cringe way or in a good way in general which is now most of the time. I do all the other repetitions and orders that Andrew has already said with the same reasons and whatnot. I will seek professional advice because I have other things stated that I need help fixing. Thank you, Andrew
I currently have Pure O/OCD. This helped me a lot to understand what happens in the brain with OCD. I have been on lexapro for about a month and a half. The only thing it’s really helped with is drawing my emotions away from my thoughts. I would get so emotional about my thoughts that I would cry and get angry and stop living life. So to a degree it has helped me live life again but I am still trying to find a good counselor that specializes in OCD.
As somebody with OCD I can say this the best video about OCD I’ve ever seen. I found it to be very helpful and I’m excited that this is out there for fellow sufferers. Amazing work! 👏🏻
The pain can be like the seemingly eternal flames of hell. Luckily, there’s been much progress in my case, while psychological damage has already been done. It’s a matter of recovery now, unfortunately not just from OCD. Anyhow, I can see lots of people benefitting from this episode Andrew, among other topics of course. Much respect and fascination 🙏
ERP was very hard, but it works! It's incredible. One of the hardest things I've ever done. As Dr. Huberman said, OCD is one of the most debilitating disorders. Many will not understand how much suffering you've had to live with or how much you have to go through to learn to mange it, and maybe they never will, but know there's hope if you suffer OCD! Get into ERP treatment.
I have a very rare form of OCD that I'm pretty embarrassed of. Usually it's referred to as somatic obsessions or hyper awareness to autonomous bodily functions, which in turn compels one to modify that function. Many common somatic obsessions are fixation on sensation of breathing or blinking and things of that nature. Mine however, is fixation on the sensations of my mouth, such as the position of my tongue, and/or whether my teeth are together held shut, if I need to swallow saliva, etc... It sounds bizarre I know, but I've been suffering with this since I can remember. I wish there were more treatments developed for this form because I'm exhausted managing it on my own.
Wow wtf man!! I literally have exactly the same that’s so fucking weird I’m 28 years old and have been suffering on and off from these exactly same tbh things since I was about 19-20 years old I thought I was the only one!!
I haven't been diagnosed but I've been suffering from hours of rituals that have been taking over my life. I've found that meditation, and exercise has helped me fill in the time I don't want taken away from me anymore (also cutting out marijana has helped). I have been using the consistency I put into all my ridiculous loops into consistent healthier habits that further my wellbeing. I've opened up about my problems with friends and family and that is what has helped me tremendously, I was scared for years to talk about all the irrational things I do behind closed doors but instead of judgement I received helpful hands and people willing to listen. I appreciate the amount of research and resources you put into this podcast it makes me feel seen and heard and I love to know people are trying to help.
A welcome topic, your protocols paradigm and clarity of presentation are truly helpful. As a psychologist I find this inspiring, and I hope a few of my peers with OCD will find this one particularly useful.
Thank you - I'm in tears. This has been a punch in the gut and a relieving hug at the same time. I've been struggling with all levels of OCD since I can remember.. sometimes I feel like my brain breaks and the next day I'm mentally hungover. I'm 29 this year and I want to take back my life. Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time to share this information ❤
As a clinical researcher myself, it would be wonderful if you would occasionally comment on the benefits of participating in a clinical trial…. Such as how to find a clinical trial for OCD near you. Travel back and forth is often covered and participants get free treatment or may even be paid modestly to participate. I really enjoy your pod cast! Full of great content. Keep up the excellent work!
I know there is a lot of information about OCD on the internet but if it wasn't for this video Andrew, I wouldn't go look it up. By that I want to say that the goal of this video to bring some knowledge about OCD to general public really works for me. Good job and thanks!
Thank you for this video! I had debilitating OCD that started in 4th grade. I didn’t know what it was, but knew something was very wrong with me. Every day, normal life was hell and I would hide it because I was embarrassed. I had every aspect: checking, repetition, and order. Thankfully, I’m much better, I prayed for healing and did kind of a reverse psychology for myself. I constantly told myself that if I keep doing these rituals, the thing I’m doing so this thing won’t happen will happen to flip the script on myself. I’ve also read that vitamin b deficiency could be related and now I’ve realized I have a gluten allergy and often have vitamin deficiencies, so I’m wondering if an undiagnosed celiac disease my whole life could have been a factor. My ocd got bad when my little brother was born. I think my brain wanted to control something in a very uncontrollable environment with a newborn around. I could see hormones being involved because I’ve always suffered from horrible acne and still do. Also, many mothers get postpartum ocd, I’ve heard.
I remember my ocd being triggered at 6 when my mom started drinking uncontrollably. ( the trying to control the situation). I had many rituals I had to do in a certain way. I was also sick a lot as a kid ( maybe a strep/ PANDAS connection) When I was 12, I decided to stop doing the rituals/ counting etc, then one day a mental form of OCD began in the form of intrusive thoughts which was very distressing ( worse to me than the earlier forms) Zoloft has helped as well as dietary changes. It's still distressing, but life is manageable and half the battle was learning that it was an actual condition. It also runs in my family. My 4 year old is showing signs of it and I worry, but am glad developments are being made. It also got way worse after having my 2nd child and that's when I sought help. People feel like they are all alone in their struggles, but so many are in the trenches with it.
I felt like the first 20 minutes of this podcast was about me. I'm 43 now but when I was 15 I remember telling my mother that something was wrong. I was obsessed with even numbers, stepping on cracks, washing my hands until they burned, etc. 30 years later I have managed to conceal my compulsions and they are less overt which also makes me feel like it's not as overwhelming as it was when I was younger but reality is that I still very much deal with it throughout the day. I left this comment within the first 20 minutes of the video because Andrew Huberman was SOOOO on point with his description. Even at 44, it's nice to be validated that what I have is a real thing that is understood.
Would love a podcast on Trichotillomania. A lot of people have it, but its super under diagnosed since a majority of people are so embarrassed about having it that they go to great lengths to hide it. Its always felt like a disorder thats fallen through the cracks.
I'd love one on body-focused repetitive behaviors too! I have body dysmorphic disorder and dermatillomania, and I always figured it was just part of my OCD since they're related to obsessions.
I have searched for a long time for information on ADHD and body picking. It was trichotillomania but now it's my lip. My med for ADHD seems to be triggering the OCD. I haven't been able to find anyone in my area that has a clue. I know more at this point than professionals do. It's maddening 🤦♀️
I agree. I've been to doctors but none recognized my Trichotillomania. A psychologist recognized my OCD and since then I am on a discovery about my condition through the internet. It helped me knowing I was not alone!
Thank you so much for this! Not only does it provide comfort for those of us who suffer but it brings compassionate awareness to those who may not understand what it is/what we go through. Your constant dedication to the mental landscape and equivalent sympathy for the human condition is remarkable. Keep doing what you’re doing! The world needs more of it.
I have been waiting for this episode for so long, thank you! I have struggled with OCD my whole life, and your content has truly helped me live a better life.
Huberman is like a modern day Superman the way he's out here saving lives with all this free public content that seems more useful than ever. A true living badass.
Thank you for this. I have been living with this for about 5 years now. I will use this podcast to show this to my future partner so that they can understand my concerns as it goes unexplained even if you try to explain it. It’s really debilitating. When it’s on his high it just makes me hate myself and even triggers suicidal thoughts. But it’s fine. I know it all passes. I have started therapy again.
Thank you for another fantasic and informative podcast! It may be worth noting that some compulsions manifest as self-harming or body-focused behaviours such as trichotillomania. It would be interesting to learn about cognitive behavioural therapy for this sub-type of OCD.
Thc: makes it worse Cbd: makes it calm Meditation: helps separate the thoughts, ability to see or recognize thoughts Acceptance of thoughts has been key for me. Good food, exercise and sleep seems to just be good. Magnesium: helps
Great job on this issue. Have had ocd for 7 years, I’m 55 now. I read books and have learned so much about the condition, but learned some more in your video. ERP helped me take my life back. So hard, but worth it.
Your detailed discussion on ocd is a great help. My 13 years old son is having ocd since he is 10. He's scared of ghosts It went away automatically as he played around the house. Then again, it came with more strength. Then , I went for medication and the symptoms disappeared for few few months. After a few months he started increasing the rituals and stopped taking medicine This proved fatal and his ocd became very severe Now, he's on medication for 6 weeks Though the severity has lessened, the compulsion s and rituals are not decreasing.
My son has OCD. Family therapy has helped my wife and I understand his condition better. Our major concern is how he will be employed and happy in the future. He is bright, so I am hopeful. Your video, I am sure, will be a blessing to watch. Thank you.
Switch to Ketogenic diet / low carb. DNRS retraining program. Look for hidden factors: Allergy, lyme disease and co infections, etc. Always a root cause.
I have OCD and am an RN, have a wonderful marriage and am getting my Nurse Practitioner in psychiatry. It is very possible that your son will have a beautiful and bright future where he will understand the broad spectrum of the human experience.
I have OCD and just graduated from a very good school and work at a law firm before I go back to school to get my law degree. Everything will work out great!
I had a lot of obsessive behavior when I was a kid. I did everything in multiples of 4, I had to put the basketball around the pole 4 times before I finished playing. I had to turn the light switch on and off 4 times before going to sleep. I sometimes would clean the entire house when I was 7-8 years old. I had obsessive hand washing that led to me getting really dry hands. I was paranoid of undercooked foods and had to cook everything really well done. The first time I smoked weed when I was 13 all of that behavior dissapeared. I tried to explain that to a mental health professional and they told me I didn’t actually have OCD and that’s not possible. I even started to drink raw eggs at one point. Completely 360’d my behavior
Thank you so much for this podcast. I have dealt with true OCD my entire life. It has taking me 32 years to learn to deal with this in a healthy matter. Thank you for sharing light on OCD bringing awareness and education.
I don't have OCD but a close family member does have it. She says being on her medications has freed her not to stress out and obsess over everything. She told me she feels so much more relaxed in her daily routine. I'm so happy she found a solution and is happier.
@@Jalle6673 hey I haven't forgotten your request. I'm just hesitant to ask my cousin about which medications she is on for her OCD. We don't talk like we used to anymore and she a very sensitive person about her mental health problems. So I feel reluctant to ask her.
So grateful to hear this episode as a mom to a tween with diagnosed OCD. I wrote a kids book based on his experience to help other children, Louie and the Dictator. Half my royalties go to paediatric OCD research at BC Children's Hospital. Exposure and response therapy was a game changer when he was younger, but as he hits puberty, things are flaring up again. Grateful to learn more.
I'll leave that for anyone out there who may need it. I've had OCD for most of my life and lately started implementing Exposure and Response Therapy (on my own). I know Andrew encouraged not to and to seek a professional for obvious reasons but I wouldn't have seeked that help anyway, so I'd recommend professional help as well especially since I suppose you'd be more likely to stick to the regimen but for those like me who won't, here's what I've done. I started doing 5-7 minutes everyday after a meditation (not important with regards to the success of the treatment I think). I simply started saying trigger words for my particular obsessions and accepting and embracing the heightened state of fear and anxiety that followed. Initially I needed to hype myself up or get myself into a particular state of mind before starting, it sometimes took minutes. I also still couldn't help using a good amount of compulsions throughout the 5-minutes period but after 2-3 months now I almost never need them. My OCD in general has dropped so significantly that it barely gets in my way anymore, although it's worth mentioning I wasn't in a terrible OCD period prior to starting but it was still somewhat of a problem for daily life. You can't spend your life in fear, it's no way to live, and to stop doing that there's only one way, which is through the fear, you have to experience it and accept the things in life outside of your control which OCD makes you believe you have some control over or responsability in some way, you don't. OCD is simply a fancy term for the refusal to accept reality and what we cannot control, it's an addiciton to control and comfort.
Thank you so much for this great podcast! I was diagnosed with OCD a few months ago and it has definitely opened my eyes and understanding to the person I am. Honestly makes me wonder if my daughter was misdiagnosed (BPD) bc she is my twin and has a lot of the same thoughts I have. She is just 1000 times more brave than me and told me about it so we can get her help, so thankful she doesn’t have to suffer half her life like I have.
Extremely comprehensive and amazing reporting of relevant research, as usual. The only thing I wish was mentioned more in detail is pure OCD and mental compulsions/checking associated with religion, sex, harm, and relationships! You briefly mentioned this as something that prevents a lot of people with OCD from ever seeking treatment due to the "taboo" nature of said thoughts. This category of OCD obsessions can be particularly harmful. As these thoughts often make the suffer feel an immense sense of shame and guilt. Awesome video! I'm extremely glad that you touch on topics of mental health. You are doing a great service!
I see the passion on this man, talking about mental health problems, how fit his is mentally and physically, he gives me hope just by listening to him, and believe me, I used to be a very confident person, but OCD ruined me!
I was surprised that Dr. H didnt really depict whats known as “Pure O”, where the compulsions are primarily mental rather than physical. He touched on it just a little in the, “thoughts are not actions” section
I’ve just started CBT for OCD, I have EUPD as a partner disorder & always felt OCD was more of an annoyance even if it’s very time consuming. Exposure therapy is the most effective treatment for me as I’ve always felt the more compulsions I do, the more intrusive thoughts etc. If I ignore the early compulsions then usually I’ll get less triggers as the day goes on. Stress is also a massive trigger for me.
To add to the many comments already expressing this: THANK YOU for this. Thank you. Thank you for all the time, effort, and energy you and your team have put into researching this and making it easy to understand for us. For someone like me, a mom to a precious young son who has OCD, but who lives in a place where there isn't any well-trained OCD therapists, this episode was gold. Knowledge is power and it has helped me to understand what might be really useful for my son, and where I need to go for help. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart. X
ERP a.k.a Exposure and Response Prevention was one of the biggest tools that's helped me learn to better manage OCD. This book is also great "The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD" by Jon Hershfield
OCD has always felt just out of my scope in my treatment with clients. This helped relate it to a lot of things I can grasp and in a way that will be very helpful for many of my clients. Thank you.
Thank You for sharing some of the vast information on this topic. My mother has suffered from severe OCD, including Trichotillamania, for decades. She has tried many treatments, in the end resorting to a type of brain surgery where they probed the frontal lobe and lasered or almost burned, the area thought to control OCD behaviours. This was done in 2003 and again, sadly in 2008, and left her ultimately brain damaged. I wonder if anyone else has heard of this surgery.
I’ve been moving through OCD from about age 6-8 onwards. It’s been challenging, but I have come out stronger from the knowledge and skills learnt in the process. This podcast episode explains what the OCD condition is like very well. I can say CBT, good sleep and healthy diet/nutrition has an impact. I also take fish oil, magnesium citrate, drink 1-2L water daily and probiotics (15 strain) which helps a lot. One thing I will caution about the condition and seeking therapy is to note - you’re not the condition. Don’t identify too much with it. See that it is a mechanism that will show up and challenge you but don’t encompass your identity in it. Another thing is, read the book “the dare response” learn how to allow and accept the sensations of anxiety. I hope everyone on here can get some form of effective treatment that works for them! Stay persistent and positive and know that this condition can be trained out, and you can have a normal life👍
My OCD is definitely on the milder side, but I can confirm that mindfulness when I was in the middle of it, took it to devastating and dark places. Thanks for explaining that - clearly I was focusing on the wrong thing. I purchased the Alpha Stim device for electro cranial stimulation. I have experience too many side effects to take SSRI’s, and it’s not an understatement that the device changed my life. By reducing anxiety, it’s allowed me to tolerate the need to act on compulsions without it feeling like life or death.
I was in therapy for OCD for a few years. She really helped me with the compulsions dealing with organization, cleaning, and having to stop the car twice during every direction to check the tires. However, she didn't focus on the intrusive thoughts at all and that is what I am now struggling with the most.
As someone with severe OCD, this helped me learn a lot about myself. I'm going to try using some cognitive behavioural therapy tactics because my medication does help, but OCD still ruins my life.
This podcast opened up so many realizations and questions for me- listened 3 x already. My most urgent questions is how to find good quality help? Im suffering from OCD (and a few other things) as a downstream of trauma. It seemingly came out of nowhere and is completely debilitating, nothing's as I imagined OCD to be. It's really something you had to experience to believe that is not a "controllable" behavior. I tried finding mental help right after a near fatal accident in Feb 2020, just to mitigate damage given what I had been through, even though I still felt mentally like a rock star. I quickly realized that the process of finding help was more of a mental/emotional deriment than helpful. I eventually had a handful of online sessions, but they weren't helpful, more like the strategies I was already using so it was more like chatting with a buddy who had some good but "easily found elsewhere" tools which did nothing. So HOW DO I LOOK FOR HELP?? I'd love to pretend I can read enough books, listen to enough podcasts, do my own research and implement my own solutions, but I'm at the point where I need a hall monitor to make sure I'm not still out on the playground picking dandelions (yes, my OCD is pulling weeds in my lawn and I can't stop and it's absolutely like a prison). Gotta say thank you to Dr Huberman for helping me realize that there are actual changes in my brain which is why I cannot "will it away". This knowledge has very likely saved me from suicide as it devastating and confusing to fall to this from being a very highly functioning member of the medical community and a competitive athlete.
As someone with OCD, I appreciate your tackling such a complex subject. You did well and your knowledge was largely accurate. I want to add a few things for your interest and any listeners: 1) You mention CBT being so helpful. Yet, it's crucial to mention "ERP" (exposure and response prevention) as the type of CBT. In OCD therapy circles and groups, CBT is not frequently mentioned, but ERP is. Mentioning ERP and how exposure and response prevention works segues with the rest of your presentation, esp in terms of the logic for tolerating the anxiety (via response prevention) . 2) When you mention all the brain structures involved in OCD, it would have been great (and complete) to hear how anxiety interfaces within that design. I heard no mention of the amygdala or BSNT 3) According to the OCD Foundation there are 4 main categories of OCD, not 3: Contamination & Washing Doubt About Accidental Harm & Checking Just Right OCD - Symmetry, Arranging, & Counting Unacceptable Taboo Thoughts & Mental Rituals 4) Would also be helpful to mention the subtypes of OCD, especially because OCD is SO OFTEN DIAGNOSTICALLY MISSED by therapists and doctors. It could also help your listeners be able to identify (possible) OCD in themselves and in their friends/loved ones. Subtypes such as Pedophilia OCD, Responsibility OCD, Pure O, etc. 5) Exposure therapy CAN also be used for other forms of anxiety such as phobias, panic disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder, and even eating disorders. 6) Stress reduction techniques that are allopathic (versus the homeopathic method of ERP) such as breathing techniques and visualization can ALSO be helpful in OCD to reduce stress, as long as they are not done to the exclusion of ERP. This is true because OCD increases with general stress; managing general stress can help alleviate some OCD anxiety. Both/and often works better.
As someone who’s interested in psychology as well as neurobiology I think it would be really great to have a small series of the science behind some of the most prominent or interesting disorders.
I was diagnosed when I was about 19 and totally resisted CBT because my therapist at the time just told me to put a rubber band around my wrist and snap it when I had intrusive thoughts and put me on meds. I’m so glad you mentioned that meds may not be the right answer for everyone. SSRIs were particularly detrimental for my own physical and mental health and I had to find other ways to cope. I was functional for the most part but things got bad from time to time (often correlated with my menstrual cycle) and extremely so when I was postpartum. Fast forward to the past couple of years and the perfect storm of perimenopause, trauma, OCD, and Hashimoto’s led to me being severely debilitated. The good news is I finally found a therapist who hit the right notes with me using CBT and EMDR which has been extremely helpful. The GG OCD mental exercise app has also helped me reframe my beliefs about my intrusive thoughts and rituals and is a tool I suggest anyone with OCD or severe anxiety look into. It’s an inexpensive way to support treatment.
@@harish_kakar Do you mean chatting to people online? If so, that’s probably something for a therapist to answer. The app is the GG OCD app. I think the company is GGtude if you want to search for it. I have no affiliation with the company and can’t tell you much more about it. I just followed mental exercises on it daily for several months and it really did help me reframe my thoughts. I still use it when anxiety or intrusive thoughts pop up again.
As always, thank you for the work you're doing. I have a history since childhood of pure O OCD where there is very little if any compulsion and the distressing obsessional thoughts are the main complaint. They've also always been accompanied by physical sensations or hyperfixation on interoceptive information, including my heartbeat, how my clothes or shoes fit, how my body moves when I walk in public, or whether I need a restroom. They've all been incredibly distressing and would come on and then vanish abruptly after months or years. I'd love an episode that dives deep on the subject of interoception and how and when things can go wrong including chronic pain, both in the absence of injury and when the diagnosed "cause" of pain is still present but the pain goes away, both of which I also experience.
This is the most comprehensive and helpful info on this topic I’ve ever seen and I’ve researched it all. I’ve suffered from this off and on my whole life. I’ve done my own experiments and I’ve discovered what the real cause is and you actually touched in it but most experts are missing the mark. You’ve come closest. No one realizes the answer is totally hormones!!! I’ve tested this theory repeatedly on myself and then my children grew up with the same hereditary hormonal issues and they have the same problems. I have low estrogen and my sons have low testosterone, which causes high cortisol and adrenaline that are the culprit for ocd and anxiety disorders. When I’ve taken estrogen my cortisol goes down and ocd and anxiety resolve. I’ve done it several times in my life in my 20’s, 40’s, 50’s, and menopause. This is the key. That’s why ssri’s and therapies don’t work completely because until you fix the hormones, which is the root cause, anything else is just a band aid. These hormones create serotonin themselves so if you replace the hormone you don’t need the ssri. Please do a peer reviewed paper and human lab study on this in your lab sir, and you will be the pioneer we need. You’re the man to do this.
I have had severe OCD and anxiety for a year and a half or more and nothing I did was working. I just found out I have had hyperthyroidism that started around that time and that my symptoms are likely from that or at least aggravating it. I will see after a few weeks of thyroid treatment if it goes away. 🤞 It is truly debilitating and I have experienced great suffering to the point of wanting to end my life because it won’t go away and any compulsions to make it better just makes it even worse and create other life problems and even ruin friendships. My obsessions revolve around not wanting to hurt people and also not wanting people to not like me so when the compulsions stress out the people around me it feeds into that. Such a nightmare. Thank you for covering this topic and mentioning that people are not bad or crazy. It helps. I suggest people check their thyroid if they are trying treatment and not seeing results.
Thanks for the reminder! It took 4 dose changes to get my thyroid in a good range and my OCD symptoms are much less!! Yay! However I found out I also have complex post traumatic stress disorder which is likely the root of these fears of people I have. My obsessions are not gone but I am able to know how to deal with them more effectively and am learning to build healthy relationships with safe people to help rewire my brain. I am not sure what the long term game looks like for me but I am not very persistent with my dr. to have her check my thyroid regularly because that makes recovery impossible for me if my thyroid is off. Hope you are finding some answers in your situation as this truly is so difficult to go through.
@@Nicole-vw2iy Thank you so much for the update! I am so glad your doing better, this gives me hope 😊 I'm going for in depth thyroid testing next week and am working with a naturopathic and OCD therapist. The severe OCD hit me suddenly but like you, I have cptsd and bpd which intensifies things. Sending healing prayers your way
Thank you for this episode. It has helped me understand and find empathy for a family member who suffers debilitating OCD which affects everyone. I can't wait for the childhood and psychiatric disorders episode to come out.
Maybe this can help someone:
Looking back I've had OCD for all of my life. But about 2 years ago it peaked. Never been so scared in my life. The scariest obsessions I had were about suicide, harm and existentialism. I was having panic attacks and hefty bouts of depression (further inducing the suicide theme). After a while I got diagnosed with OCD. Suddenly my whole life made sense.
I am doing great now. Here'e what helped me the most:
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy
Mindsets:
- Learn as much about OCD as you can. Learn the game it plays.
- Understanding that embracing uncertainty is a practice. It's sweaty work, but you get better at it. Do it with consistently with attitude.
- Remember metaphorically that to get to that 'pot of gold' you have to 'fight the dragon'. Do stuff you care about, even if you're scared sh*tless. You will thank yourself later.
Books that helped me tremendously:
- You Are Not A Rock (Mark Freeman)
- The Happiness Trap (Russ Harris)
- Man's Search For Meaning (Victor Frankl)
- Help And Hope for Your Nerves (Claire Weekes)
Could we talk? I’m going through stuff that is scarily similar to what you went through. Thanks for sharing!
I have this and it’s so much worse going down the rabbit but hole of what’s really going in and about to gaping and I can’t go back to ignorance is bliss plus severe anxiety/adhd/depression etc and can’t take ssri, dole dbt a long time ago and I’m
Just getting way worse.. I’m glad you’re feeling much better. Don’t know what to do and feels like no hope, if pre 2020 still bad but so much worse now
@@sarahjaye4117 Hi Sarah, hope you are well. Do you have access to therapy? :)
Went through the same themes and process the last few years. I'm glad to see someone else make it to the other side.
To anyone going through this, it feels bottomless and completely hopeless, but it's not. You just NEED to practice these mindsets and therapies (can be self administered if you don't have OCD Therapists in your area; just need to read up), resist compulsions, and with time and practice, the storm passes.
@@ticaalexandru7023 Yes! 💪🏻
OCD is pure hell. I suffered from HOCD, intrusive thoughts I was attracted to my parents/sisters/friends, and intrusive thoughts that made me think I was going crazy. I would ruminate, search online, do mental compulsions, anything to relieve the anxiety and fear it would cause me. The "what ifs" would follow me morning, noon, and night. The only relief I would get was when I would sleep (if I could fall asleep). Even when I woke up at 2am, it would be consuming my mind.
It wasn't until I accept all those possibilities and cut compulsions, that it started to get much better. I look back now on how worried I was, and get upset that I wasted so much time on nothing. Luckily, I only suffered for a couple months. I feel for those who have suffered for years.
But how you could you accept such thoughts? I suffer from the same thoughts and I'm still suffering
@@1675loof You just need to accept it's a possibility. You're retraining your brain that these thoughts don't bother you. Everyone has intrusive thoughts. The difference between us and them are they but value behind those thoughts.
@@TheCrayonMan529 but how do I retrain my mind? I don't know what or how to do it.can you specify exactly what you did.i just don't know how to deal with a thought that tells me I'm attracted to my mom.
@@1675loof I just keep saying "if it's true that I am, there's nothing I can do about it". That's what I say. You don't fight it. Not fighting doesn't mean give into the thought, but not engaging in it.
I have similar things you had. Happened after a breakup and then a bad dream. Intrusions never stop, how did you get past this bro. God bless
I cured my OCD. My OCD was so bad to the point where I couldn’t go 1 minute without an intrusive thought. I have now gotten to the point where I have zero intrusive thoughts and immune to remission. This is how I did it. I will try to explain this as simply as possible…
I like to use the analogy of the white elephant. If you told someone (with or without ocd) to not think of a white elephant it would be impossible for them not to think of a white elephant. Although, if you told someone to not think of a white elephant but they were uninterested in playing the game, they would have no problem and would just go on with whatever they were doing. This is basically what ocd is and how you cure ocd. Because our brians are wired differently than others we have a constant game of this going on in our head. To stop the thoughts you need to stop playing the game. The only reason you can’t stop the intrusive thoughts is because you are trying to play a game to not think them. Instead when you feel them coming simply decide not to “play”. This is definitely easier said than done because at first the thoughts just come automatically. Overtime it gets easier I promise. It took me months for this to cure my OCD. It’s not an overnight thing. Plz respond with any questions you might have
Broo I m suffering from ocd and it's ruining my life like hell
Thank you so much for this, I'm going to try it
@@agressiveabhiii540 I got better and recently just fell back into it, I also thought around it like this guy and the method worked for me but it’s like anything in life, consistency is key.
Yes definitely, you are saying absolutely right. But please be patience who are suffering from ocd. You are going to be okay. I am suffering from almost 1 year, but thank God my OCD not completely gone but very improvement I am so happy
@@agressiveabhiii540bro please be patience, try to stay away from anxiety and stress. Please relax yourself and do some meditation and yoga
I was diagnosed with OCD in the 1980s. It made for a very difficult childhood. I was put on several different medications. However, the unending love from my parents is how I survived.
Is it gone?
I have ocd and cbt training helped a lot! I wouldn't leave the house, now I'm living life again!
CBT helped my compulsions a lot as well! Really changed my life in general.
How is your cbt. What told You your psichologisy
I have an issue with leaving the house as well. That's the worst part of my OCD
Well done yourboy!
You can thank Socrates.
Thank you for this! There is a large 4th “bucket” which is mental compulsions and is very common! This can look like reassurance seeking, review of past events, emotional checking, etc. These compulsions are virtually undetectable by anyone but the sufferer.
It’s also important to note that obsessions can be harm related, religious, sexual, and relationship based. It’s the taboo nature of the obsessions that can keep people from seeking treatment and lead to intense shame and disgust with oneself. It is commonly accepted that OCD often presents in the arenas in which the sufferer values the most, I.e., I care about my relationship to God…I have obsessions about going to hell. Such a complex issue. Thank you for tackling it!!!
Absolutely! And so very difficult to treat as the obsession is followed by the ritualizing/reassurance in a matter of milliseconds - and entirely 'between the ears' - so you can't 'see' when it is happening to catch it to prevent those hallmark 'responses'.
Absolutely! Thank you for mentioning this
I can completely relate 💯 😌❤️
And to add to that last point, the possibility of something happening can be so frightening that these superstitious actions, that have no real effect on the risk, become engrained neurologically.
Thank you for telling us about mental compulsions! That’s what I had. Very debilitating
To someone not having ocd, I’m very happy that most people on this world don’t have it, while tears in my eyes, please appreciate that you are healthy,
I totally understand.
"A healthy man has a thousand wishes, a sick man has but one."
Facts i just got ocd recently and i didnt realise how amazing it was being mentally healthy was
@@rabbittko1421 You don't know what you don't know. People have no idea how fortunate they are if they are relatively mentally well.
If you only recently got OCD, it's important to act on it quickly, as it is still relatively weak and you are probably quite young so your brain is plastic. Get it treated asap before it lays down patterns in your brain.
This podcast is just amazing. As someone who "had" OCD as a child, and after years of treatment has almost no symproms left, this episode really touched my heart. For anyone in this comment section who never dealt with this, andrew described pretty well in my opinion what it is. I wanted to open a little discussion in regards o childhood ocd, because my mom was the one who "saved" me from OCD, she went to therapy for ocd in order to help me, she studied tactis and things she should say to help, she even developed her own way of "treating " ocd by the end, and honestly she ended up being better than any CBT out there. She saved me, and i think this is an aspect of treatment for children with OCD that i see very little talks about
How did you cure ocd?
Your mom sounds absolutely wonderful. I'm trying to help my teen son, who suffers. I'd welcome any tips. We are currently doing ERP therapy and meds.
Wow...your comment....my son has OCD (at least I think so) and there are no therapists nearby so I this gives me hope that your mom was able to help you so much.
Reading about your mother made me cry like a baby. Not everyone is as lucky as you are. Not every mother is as empathetic as yours. I have OCD since I was a child. It has been 20 years. As life happened, I suffered with 2 major traumas and several minor ones. I have been oppressed all my life and subjected to domestic violence. I have extreme fears, phobias and anxiety. I have constant self doubt. Even if I see something I dont trust that I see that. In my heart I know what I feel and think and do is right but i still need constant validation. I always feel that I am at fault when deep down in my heart I know that I am not. I suffer from guilt complex. I suffer from bipolar and severe depression. My life is so bleak that there are days when I wonder why am I even living? Nowadays I wonder if i should continue living with NO sense of self at all?? On top of that what makes it worse is that I have no one who understands my condition. Neither my parents nor siblings. My parents ignored me saying that I was just overthinking. I am still dependent on them until I get married. I tried to communicate but they badly disregarded what I felt and was trying to share. My siblings never understood me as well. I have no friends as I have social anxiety. There is no one who would listen to me. I just began to watch these videos so that I could try and heal myself. I am from that part of the world where mental issues are a big taboo and daughters are considered inferior to sons. So got no proper education. Cant get a job to get independent. Neither I live in that part of the world where I could get any support from the government or organisations. Despite of my situation I have been loving and caring throughout my life. I am a person with high degree of empathy. Unfortunately, no one bothers to have empathy for me. I am always taken for granted. It felt so good to know there are people who have someone to have their back. It is rare and precious.❤
Can you please let us know how she healed you ?
I just want to say, there is hope. I am living with peace in my life. I know it can get so dark and you may feel alone, I swesr you are not. It took 30 years form me to be free from OCD. Part of me lives with acceptance of what I would call being in recovery. I doany things to stay healthy and aware. I never thought I would be free from OCD feeling out of control. 90% of the OCD does not paralyze me anymore. Keep trying don't give up you are not alone and you deserve peace🌈💛
what treatment did you have
❣
God is one
Muhammad is last messenger
My son was diagnosed with OCD at 13. He was tested with an IQ of 131 in 5th grade and has always had difficulty in school. Musically gifted and philosophical minded. I wish you could work with him and study his brain! He’s an amazing kid who suffers in ways most don’t understand.
Schools aren't good for kids with high IQ who suck everything in. Way too much stimulus. Try to teaching him visualizing not sucking in all of the negative energy. We still have caveman brains who met maybe 30 people in their lives. They fill up and they are either going ground themselves through OCD, yelling at their parents, cutting themselves, drugs, etc. Exercise is good...but most schools took that away. Make school as painful, overstimulated, boring as possible. Give them no active participation or sovereignty then blame and drug the kids. It's gross.
my son as well, he is 20 now, so talented wonderful & gifted & terrified that medicine would take away his gifts "change him" 🙏🏼❤️
Neurofeedback works!
Same here. I have 3 kids with OCD, but my son who's now 21 was diagnosed as a young teen, is also highly intelligent, unusually gifted in musical ability and philosophically minded. He refused medications, but responded really well to twice weekly therapy for several years. He's in law school now, doing an internship at the state capital and performs in theater. OCD still tries to give him a run for his money, but he's doing fabulously and it gives me hope for his sister who we can't manage to help find quite the right tools for.
Any chance he’s an infp-t aswell ?
Believe in him ! Thats what he needs the most !
Dr.Huberman, I just wanted take a moment out and thank you for the amazing work you provide all your viewers. You’ve had an enormous positive impact on my life, and I’m sure the same goes for many of your other viewers. Your contribution to society through the work you’re doing here is remarkable. Thank you!
From someone who had severe OCD once, thank you Andrew, for shedding light on this condition. My life’s been saved due to CBT therapy, SSRI’s, exercise, nutraceuticals, lifestyle changes and Sauna therapy.
Hi. Which ssri are you taking? I’ve heard Faverin is number 1 in treating ocd but a lot of people also use prozac or paxil.
What nutraceuticals helped you?
Thanks
@@Dharmasim my son si taking fludac 20 mg first alternate days then 1.daily..Fluovextin. brand name.fludac
I am so sorry guys as I just saw your comments now. I usually don't check up on my comments on youtube. OCD runs very high in my family and I think I found the best result with my protocol.
#1. I don't sleep beyond 2am and aim for 1am. This took compulsions down by half, getting my circadian rhythm right. Wake up in the morning and did bright light therapy.
#2. SSRI I take is Zoloft. Nasty sides. If you're new to the SSRI game, i'd suggest going with something more selective. Escitalapram I heard is great.
#3. I did Sauna therapy 3 - 5 times a week for the last 3-4 years. I read a large cohort study on how Sauna goers are the least likely to get Psychosis. Started making me think that it'd help OCD. I was right.
#4. N-Acetyl-Cystiene for 3 years. I stopped recently. It was pretty solid.
#5. High dose Vitamin D. 7-8000 IU's daily. Had to stop it due to my VItamin D level being so high lol, so please get it checked and cater to your optimized route.
#6. And probably the second best or 1B to Zoloft (1a), was TRT. I realized my test levels where at 260 ng/dl, or lower I think (Free) and Total of 9 (which was low af). I use TRT compounded cream, and I think the DHT that is found in the activation of 5ar (on skin) , is responsible for good mental health. My working theory is DHT helps neurosteroids connect better, facilitating communication of neurotransmitters. Easy way to get this for Non-males who have OCD, is creatine.
THANK YOU for this TREMENDOUSLY HELPFUL episode Andrew! As someone who has suffered from OCD since childhood- ultimately manifesting into an intense ED- I found your clarity in discussing OCD vs. OCPD to be particularly valuable. I also appreciate your discussion of the newer therapies that are starting to be studied and used for OCD treatment. While I've has lots of therapy (including CBT) during my struggles, ultimately what helped me recover the most was developing a profound joy and passion for strength training, and also realizing that I didn't want anything (like obsessions and rituals) to own me and control my life. Thank you again for your time and effort in educating us on here, I always look forward to spending time with you while watching and learning🙏💜🤗
Do You have an Ed
what do you men by developing passion for strength training. can you elaborate a little bit please?
I realized my daughter had OCD just a few years ago, as I thought she just had ADHD. She's 24 now, but starting in elementary school she had to organize things in specific ways. While doing homework she kept writing, erasing, and rewriting everything and it took forever for her to to complete any assignment. As she got older, if someone touched any of her personal items she would throw a fit. I had been listening to various podcast on mental health issues and realized I had similar issues while growing up and now I was seeing it in her. I thought I just had anxiety starting oat a young age and didn't realize that my own behaviors were indicative of OCD. I found her a great therapist that uses Exposure and Response Prevention therapy. It has been amazing for her.
I could remember several years ago, I was diagnosed with OCD. Also suffered severe depression and mental disorder. Not until my wife recommended me to psilocybin mushrooms treatment. Psilocybin treatment saved my life honestly. 8 years totally clean. Never thought I would be saying this about mushrooms.
Can you help me with the reliable source 🙏. I'm 56 and have suffered for years with addiction, anxiety and severe ptsd, I got my panic attacks under control myself years ago and they have come back with a vengeance, I'm constantly trying to take full breaths but can't get the full satisfying breath out, it's absolutely crippling me, i live in Germany. I don't know much about these mushrooms. Really need a reliable source!! Can't wait to get them
YES very sure of Dr.benfungi. I have the same experience with anxiety, depression, PTSD and addiction and Mushrooms definitely made a huge huge difference to why am clean today.
100% agree I used to have Psychosis and paranoid thoughts like "people thinking about me talking about me etc. Very odd behavior after getting off Adderall from 7-16. Antidepressants at 18-29. 31 now. I took way to much, but took about 20g of Gold caps (Psilocybin containing mushroom) I analyzed my entire life. The emotions that came out helped me understand behavior etc more. Wont ever need to do it again because I'm happy and contempt forever, but I wish more people did this to alter their perception of reality. Would help with healing much trauma
How do I reach out to him? Is he on insta
Yes he's Dr.benfungi.Shrooms to me is a natrual healer. I know a guy who has used mushrooms in the same way and they have really helped him. mah dudes have safe trips all.
This podcast is a beacon of hope for me....I have been struggling with severe "Harm OCD" for the past two and a half years. Sometimes it just takes that one person to tell you you're not crazy or evil. I don't want ANY of these thoughts of hurting people, but now I believe once again that I will get through this. Thank you Andrew. 🙏
Hi there, im also struggle with harm ocd.. i have thought and urges to kill my own son..
Hey guys. This is not reassurance haha but I understand what you’re going through. And I wanna share a couple things you guys can try, these two to create a little distance between you and the mind
1. Ask yourself who truly you are, the fact that you are not these thoughts, if you keep these thoughts, urges, emotions aside who really are you? Your true nature of being a complete life will come up, the aliveness within you will come up.
2. Always remember that distinction between what’s you and what is yours. Like the memories you have, the imaginations you have, they are yours but they cannot be you. Because they’re acquired. Just this little distance between what is you and what is not you can bring immense peace. How to find yourself? List things that is not you, like this device you’re reading this on, its not you. The clothes you’re wearing is not you. The imaginations, the memories, the opinions. They’re yours for sure. Still not you.
3. And please be a little kinder to yourself, a little loving to yourself. Take care :)
I’ve had OCD chronically since I was eight. I’m 59 now and listening to this podcast, I honestly now understand my own brain much more than l have ever done. Mine includes mostly intrusive thoughts, harm OCD and scrupulosity. My thirties and fourties’ were lost to it. Right down to sleeping in my cupboard and getting up at dawn to measure the angles of the rising sun’s light coming in the window so I knew we’d be safe from something catching fire. It was my universe, and your explanation of how our view narrows with this anxiety is spot on. I also have severe agoraphobia, DPDR, complicated grief, and chronic pain from diabetic neuropathy, so it can get a little tricky trying to work on recovery. I have been suicidal several times, but not now and I know how to deal with that nowadays. CBTis hardest for me because I always believe I’ll never sleep unless I settle the compulsive thought. And my mind will jolt me awake if I try to resist and sleep. But now, listening to you, I’ve realised I try to jump in to far too soon. I’ve had help on and off, at the moment I can’t really afford it. But I’m going to hang in there and keep trying. I’m on Sertraline, which has helped, but now I’m going to commit to the CBT as well, but not try to do it all at once. My late mum literally saved me so many times with her understanding of OCD and her understanding of me, now she’s passed I want to keep working on recovery for her, so she’s at peace, as well as for myself. Thank you so much for uploading this, it will help more people than you can ever know.
Please do chin mudra or Gyan mudra everyday for atleast 30 minutes. It will cure all your mental issues, including ocd.
Also, add meditation and pranayama to your routine if you want more improvement in all aspects of your life.
Search about Ashtanga yoga, to understand the complete package of yoga. Meditation and pranayama is a part of Ashtanga yoga.
For the mudra,Just join your thumb and index finger together with a very slight pressure (don't overdo the pressure, otherwise it won't work. Also make sure you don't have pressure anywhere else in your hand and are in a very relaxed position).
It changed me completely.
Bless you for sharing ❤❤❤❤❤
I suffered more than you, no one like me suffered, your words are nonsense
Sinhala translate
@@FlowersandNature852 Take this nonsense elsewhere.
Great episode as always, but very important to point out that obsessions are, more often than not actually, non-behavioral, involving mental compulsions, such as rumination and mental checking. It's a very common misconception that compulsions must mirror those more classically described examples, like hand washing and counting, but this is not at all the case and contributes to misdiagnosis.
Great points and you’re right that I should have emphasized that more. I’ll make sure to in any revisions and social media posts. Thank you.
@@hubermanlab It's called Pure O. Runimanting thoughts creates anxiety and then compulsion are also ruminating thoughts to ease the anxiety.
@@247artsnsourcing6Heard that 😔
Pure ocd.. same management..cbt..Erp?
Thanks for mentioning.. I was looking for this in the comments..
Have been asking for this for a while, can't believe it's here! Thank you so much for everything Andrew. You are changing lives everyday.
Random question: Are you from Petaluma?
"Thoughts are not actions." People like me get relief from this. Use this in the very start of every podcast related to OCD.
Thank you!
Thank you. Our 32 year old son has OCD. We are learning a lot these days and you have been very helpful.
Thank you so much for starting out this podcast shedding light on how OCD is completely misunderstood by the general public. This is such a great service to everyone suffering with this chronic condition- thank you so much for this podcast!
Wow…I have so much to share/say and comment but I will attempt to be judicious with my words.
1. I have OCD and saw immense benefits from a combination of SSRI’s and ERP coupled with an anti-seizure med.
2. The link between GABA and OCD is fascinating. The addition of an anti-seizure med increased my ability to fully engage in ERP, sit with anxiety and better manage my behavioral responses. I also found mindfulness to be very akin to ERP. Allowing thoughts to be there without the attempt to identify with them…etc.
3. The correlation between hormones and OCD is significant. My OCD became very debilitating during peri menopause and a lot of women can develop postpartum OCD who did not show clinically relevant YBOCS scores before pregnancy.
4. I began taking Inositol at 4G and it helped a great deal in reducing my prescription medication. As a side note…the work around Inositol and insulin resistance is awesome.
5. There are some fascinating researchers/clinicians who specialize in OCD. I am getting my PMHNP (psychiatric NP) and have done a podcast on my experiences with OCD, recovery and resources (Pretty Spiritual Podcast episode 72).
My attempt at brevity wasn’t successful, but it could talk all day about OCD and perspective in recovery. THANK YOU for being so thorough and delicate in your research and delivery!!
Thank you for sharing. That is all very informative. No need to apologize for thoroughness. I personally have never been considered concise. All the best, Andrew
Thanks for your thoughts! Where/how can I find help for my OCD which emerged after trauma and is completely debilitating? I don't even know where to start or what to look for. Sounds like you might have some ideas?
@@hubermanlab NAC works like a charm. I did the research. Bingo !
Why were you taking anti seizure meds? Was OCD causing seizures? Please reply.
Will listen to the podcast!
One of my favourite lines in worthing though OCD is "maybe, maybe not", "I am safe", "this too shall pass"
I have tried CBD/THC but feel it just opened some panic attack pathway in my brain.
bad edible trip triggered my current ocd theme so yea i wouldnt recommend
Agreed with cannabis. It only made my OCD worse.
It actually made mine slightly better but made depression and anhedonia worse, so I stopped
@@FireIceGamerSame! My OCD gets out of control when I've had edibles. Never again!
@@FireIceGamer Funny, terrifying edibles trip that put me in the hospital took my already-extant OCD - which is certainly a reason the trip was so bad - and made it extreme. Then I got hooked on prescription benzos (thanks, doc) and that made recovery extremely difficult. Thankfully, I have access to the best therapies and healers money can buy. Or I'd have committed suicide or been committed forever many years ago.
This helps to understand those affected. We are all thankful for professor Andrew Huberman spreading the science in this accessible and comprehensible form 🙏
This is amazing. I think this might be the beginning of me fighting back. When I was 11 yo, I knew something was not right, because I had to read every word a few times to make sure none was missed. Didn’t know it is OCD until I’m 34. More people should see this.
I can't remember a time where I maintained this much undivided attention to a podcast as much as listening to this one. Can't believe I've just discovered your podcasts! Very thorough and informative.
Thank you for bringing awareness to this horrible disorder. I’ve had it for my entire life and it almost led to my suicide in 2019. It’s been a long and painful path, but I have incorporated exposure and response prevention into my every day life.
How are you doing now?
Same, almost lead me to it in 2021 ! And the memory of it became a trigger now !
Can you pls share the details? How did u do all these to get out from most distressed disorder.
im at my lowest right now been better had it worse before then it got better now its worse in different ways
and i dont know what to do the compulsions are swallowing me alive
@@1C1V1 i promise if you get an ocd therapist it will change your life. Its hard work but its harder suffering every day with this bullshit disorder. Best of luck hang in there one day at a time
Learning more about myself and others through the scientific method you take in your podcasts. Much respect.
😊😊
😮
I was diagnosed with ocd at age 28. It peaked while I was pregnant with my 4th child. I had no idea what it was I thought I was just really anxious. I thought OCD was just needing things in order. I suffer many themes of OCD. I don’t do physical compulsions, I have reassurance seeking behaviors. I also check mentally by looking at people or I also avoid people that trigger me. It did become somewhat debilitating for me. I wanted to stay in bed all day but knew I couldn’t. I forced myself out of bed. I didn’t want to do simple things like drive anywhere or go grocery shopping cause it was super triggering. I attempted while pregnant to take my life. Ended up in a mental hospital for more than a week. The mental pain and agony is horrible. I wouldn’t wish it upon my worst enemy. Being aware of it has made it easier for me to tell ocd is a liar. But it reoccurs. I have days where things get better and then I have really really bad days. I take medication but I need to learn how to actually keep it in check with a therapist. Wishing luck on everyone suffering with this. Which also comes with depression and SI.
Sorry for your struggle. I have one similar.
I have OCD. And the thing that I often don't notice is it's DELIBITATING. It has made me very weak.
Now I'll try my best in life to make things balanced and overcome this disease.
May Allah(God) helps us all in recovering and healing.
I have been fighting OCD my whole life. It was at its peak for 2 years,and i could not explain all the things i survived but it's so horrifying. Many different SSRI, anxiety and anti-psychotic medications could not help me a bit in my case. I overcame it eventually. The path of overcome going to be different for all of us.But you can do it, you just can't believe it, but I'm sure you will. 🙏🙏
Did you try probiotics? Some have been helped by healing the gut.
I got 13 minutes in and i was sobbing because i feel like this is what ive needed to hear for so long. Every therapist ive ever seen never knows what to do with me and i never knew how to let them in on it...but hearing you break this condition down in processing it word by word going "oh my god thats my whole life"
Ive avoided therapists for a long time now because of medications and how much they kill me as a person, but I've always been misdiagnosed with bipolar type 2 and schizophrenia by some very horrible psychologists pushing medications on me. I never felt true to those diagnoses so i never said them to anyone, and the medications made me suffer more. I feel like my peak was in 2021 at 23 years old, where it all unfolded the most, and i feel like im losing my life to it, more than my chronic pain and other mental illnesses.
Wow, its beyond me how so therapists don't know about OCD. Its about 1/5th as common as major depression
@@skybirdnomad honestly, I feel like it's because there's a lot of therapists unequipped for heavier cases. Sometimes the healthcare system just decides to give you a therapist made for helping people with less complex mental issues or a psychologist that really wants you to try 15 different prescriptions
I think we need a reform in the mental health system and how diagnoses go about.
Thank you!
Accidently I got my OCDs under control because I was getting rid of wasteful thoughts for some 10+ years. Mostly by recognition and stopping and replacing with things like gratefulness.
Learning about all this would have made it so much easier but now I can see what I was handling.
I was such a mess!
That’s good that you got it taken care of. For me, I was able to get rid of different specific themes. But then another theme would pop up and it would take a while before I could face that one. ERP has been helpful.
You are one lucky person to have had it accidentally under control !
I was diagnosed with OCD and ADHD way back in the day (80’s) when it was very rare for pre-teen girls to be diagnosed as such. I refused medication back then because I was so afraid of how it would impact my brain. As an adult, I finally gave myself permission to try adderall to see if it would help. Folks…only 10mg and I was finally able to articulate my thoughts and feelings, to the point that CBT (which wasn’t helpful to that point) became incredible! I no longer take adderall, but for the time of that initial understanding of myself and some past trauma, it was key for me.
Dr. Huberman, both of my twin sons have that same transient, grunting tick! They’re adults now and only notice it when they are exhausted. I’ll let them know they’re not alone.
I think it's wise to refuse medication sometimes and as you point out it's often a very low dose that causes change and by taking medication one is introducing on a unnatural balance in the brain soup..
people who are prone to addiction especially are often responsible enough to accept fvery low doses.
often things like nortriptyline and or trazodone are used to treat pain and sleep disorders respectively and with very low doses
That’s great! I do need to mention that Adderall and Ritalin have nearly pushed me to suicide multiple times. They often make OCD much worse
OCD + ADHD can be quite dangerous. Adderall will seem to help ADHD, but it WILL worsen OCD and OCD will absolutely dominate everything else! ADHD is low dopamine in particular neuronal paths, and OCD is high noradrenaline, low serotonin. Since adderall will release them both in the brain, it can trigger complex issues. Noradrenaline and dopamine are quite similar and is hard to focus on one particular thing! Perhaps methamphetamine is the only good approach in this situation!
Did you ever figure out why ERP didn’t work for you until then?
@@goodoleboy2525 I’m not a scientist but I can say that, from personal experience, stimulants helped to slow my brain down enough to box my thoughts and feelings into separate sentences. I’m a teacher and I think of it like a graphic organizer I’d give some of my students to plan their writing. For some reason, I felt overstimulated when I didn’t have a stimulant in my system. I’ve been told it’s a trauma response from some unsafe situations in childhood where I had to be hyper-vigilant about certain things in order to survive. But I’m still sorting through all that in therapy. The brain-body connection is fascinating!!
My mom took me to the doctor when I was 12 for the many compulsions and rituals I would perform throughout my day at home and in school, the doctor told her that as long as it didn’t affect anyone else’s life & only affected Mine that I didn’t need treatment & I was fine & simply exhibiting great habits of cleaning & organization that would only serve me for the better in my future. I had Zero idea there was even medication for OCD until I was in my late 20’s & completely time blind & out of control of my life & mind. I pray parents, friends, humans, that see this share it with as many individuals as they can because knowledge is power & the sooner you become educated the faster & easier it is to implement some of these life changing tools that Dr. Huberman has been so kind to share with us. Thank You Doctor Andrew Huberman you’ve helped me change so MANY areas of my life for the absolute best!😊👏🏽
One mushroom trip did more for my OCD than YEARS of intense therapy. Crazy the power of psychedelics. Hope more research goes into the use of them for OCD because anecdotally, they saved my life.
Norma Prince Neuroscience Institute at RI Hospital is doing research
@Isak Tougaard It had nothing to do with what I experienced during my trip. It had everything to do with the change in brain chemistry following. I like the way Michael Pollan describes psilocybin’s effects on OCD: An OCD brain is like a snowglobe that has sat resting. Everything stays in one place (repeated patterns, thoughts, behaviours) & it is difficult, near impossible, to create change. Psilocybin mushrooms are able to come by & give the snowglobe a gentle shake. The snowflakes will float around & eventually reposition themselves, in a completely different way, allowing the person experiencing OCD to see things, truly, from a new perspective. That is the exact shift I experienced. I always say when talking about psilocybin mushrooms “my entire brain chemistry changed” because it’s the best words I can use to describe the shift. One year later & I am still experiencing the effects of the shift.
@Isak Tougaard Very interesting! I have a very good friend that I took the mushrooms with & over the past year, we frequently discuss the trip, the effects, etc, as a way to integrate but also because it’s just endlessly fascinating how profound it was. It’s hard not to discuss! In addition, I did a lot of reading to understand certain themes that came up during the trip. I still go to therapy regularly, but I have now discovered a spiritual community in my city that has given me that connection to community, while allowing me to integrate further. So much work has been done since the psilocybin trip & the integration has been equally as important as the trip itself! I felt the brain-shift immediately, but long term implementation of new thought-patterns has definitely come during the integration!
@Isak Tougaard Very interesting! I have a very good friend that I took the mushrooms with & over the past year, we frequently discuss the trip, the effects, etc, as a way to integrate but also because it’s just endlessly fascinating how profound it was. It’s hard not to discuss! In addition, I did a lot of reading to understand certain themes that came up during the trip. I still go to therapy regularly, but I have now discovered a spiritual community in my city that has given me that connection to community, while allowing me to integrate further. So much work has been done since the psilocybin trip & the integration has been equally as important as the trip itself! I felt the brain-shift immediately, but long term implementation of new thought-patterns has definitely come during the integration!
Thats cool however the purpose of the mushroom is to damage the brain of the animal trying to eat the mushroom (disorganize its thought patterns and perceptions), so we need to be very careful with it.
Thank you for this episode. I have OCPD (I'm an engineer), but developed some OCD thinking after betrayal in my marriage as well as a later scary health issue. I'm still working my way back to mental and emotional health. I've lost my ability to focus like I once did, because my thoughts draw me away from what I'm trying to accomplish. I really want my productivity back in my work as I miss the enjoyment of the process that I once could do.
I can relate. Same thing happened to me.
Damn thats rough. Hope your able to find some healing
My mom always told me that after we die we will feel the pain we caused to other people. I found this here to be helpful in my own healing journey
"O SON OF SPIRIT! My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting." -Baha'i Hidden Words #1 Arabic
Can definetly relate to being drawn away from ur produktivity by ur thoughts!
As someone that has struggled with OCD for the better part of a decade, this podcast has definitely given me so much validation and reassurance. Thanks Professor
I am glad you mentioned the darker part of OCD thoughts because I have suffered from things that made me feel bad and have made me think bad things and do bad things and regret and feel disgusted with myself because of the compulsion. I have found an amazing way that deals with it and feel way better. This gonna sound wish-washy till it all makes sense.
Meditation brings attention to the breath, at first you suck and you still suck the second time but after like 3 times you learn to bring attention to the breath(I like to think of it as instead of initiating attention then maintaining attention I am constantly initiating attention which helps me) after the meditation training you will be able to change the subject of your focus and thus not allow the compulsion to take place tips are counting bricks, thinking about games your planing to play, plans, anything to get your attention off. Warning about the thoughts I have had and now don't get any more or should I say, less frequently are, murder, grape, arson hate, violence, self-harm and doing something gross. I am not proud of having thought of this and I want to make that very clear. The flip side is nice things like doing something nice for someone or thinking something overly positive in a cringe way or in a good way in general which is now most of the time. I do all the other repetitions and orders that Andrew has already said with the same reasons and whatnot. I will seek professional advice because I have other things stated that I need help fixing. Thank you, Andrew
You’re not alone, many of these pieces are fitting together for me as well. Hang in there
I currently have Pure O/OCD. This helped me a lot to understand what happens in the brain with OCD. I have been on lexapro for about a month and a half. The only thing it’s really helped with is drawing my emotions away from my thoughts. I would get so emotional about my thoughts that I would cry and get angry and stop living life. So to a degree it has helped me live life again but I am still trying to find a good counselor that specializes in OCD.
As somebody with OCD I can say this the best video about OCD I’ve ever seen. I found it to be very helpful and I’m excited that this is out there for fellow sufferers. Amazing work! 👏🏻
Bro tell me i have ocd and tell me the solution of this disease
Dr. Huberman, you're my hero 💚 I appreciate your efforts so much. Thank you!
The pain can be like the seemingly eternal flames of hell. Luckily, there’s been much progress in my case, while psychological damage has already been done. It’s a matter of recovery now, unfortunately not just from OCD. Anyhow, I can see lots of people benefitting from this episode Andrew, among other topics of course. Much respect and fascination 🙏
ERP was very hard, but it works! It's incredible. One of the hardest things I've ever done. As Dr. Huberman said, OCD is one of the most debilitating disorders. Many will not understand how much suffering you've had to live with or how much you have to go through to learn to mange it, and maybe they never will, but know there's hope if you suffer OCD! Get into ERP treatment.
I have a very rare form of OCD that I'm pretty embarrassed of. Usually it's referred to as somatic obsessions or hyper awareness to autonomous bodily functions, which in turn compels one to modify that function. Many common somatic obsessions are fixation on sensation of breathing or blinking and things of that nature. Mine however, is fixation on the sensations of my mouth, such as the position of my tongue, and/or whether my teeth are together held shut, if I need to swallow saliva, etc... It sounds bizarre I know, but I've been suffering with this since I can remember. I wish there were more treatments developed for this form because I'm exhausted managing it on my own.
I got something like this too.
This sounds really tuff to deal with, hang on in there
Wow wtf man!! I literally have exactly the same that’s so fucking weird I’m 28 years old and have been suffering on and off from these exactly same tbh things since I was about 19-20 years old I thought I was the only one!!
Somatic hypervigilance. I have it too.
I have this too, started with yawning, then breathing, then swallowing. It's like a living hell.
Top tier information delivery, thank you Dr Huberman, always entertaining and informative!
I haven't been diagnosed but I've been suffering from hours of rituals that have been taking over my life. I've found that meditation, and exercise has helped me fill in the time I don't want taken away from me anymore (also cutting out marijana has helped). I have been using the consistency I put into all my ridiculous loops into consistent healthier habits that further my wellbeing. I've opened up about my problems with friends and family and that is what has helped me tremendously, I was scared for years to talk about all the irrational things I do behind closed doors but instead of judgement I received helpful hands and people willing to listen. I appreciate the amount of research and resources you put into this podcast it makes me feel seen and heard and I love to know people are trying to help.
A welcome topic, your protocols paradigm and clarity of presentation are truly helpful. As a psychologist I find this inspiring, and I hope a few of my peers with OCD will find this one particularly useful.
Thank you - I'm in tears. This has been a punch in the gut and a relieving hug at the same time. I've been struggling with all levels of OCD since I can remember.. sometimes I feel like my brain breaks and the next day I'm mentally hungover. I'm 29 this year and I want to take back my life. Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time to share this information ❤
As a clinical researcher myself, it would be wonderful if you would occasionally comment on the benefits of participating in a clinical trial…. Such as how to find a clinical trial for OCD near you. Travel back and forth is often covered and participants get free treatment or may even be paid modestly to participate. I really enjoy your pod cast! Full of great content. Keep up the excellent work!
I know there is a lot of information about OCD on the internet but if it wasn't for this video Andrew, I wouldn't go look it up. By that I want to say that the goal of this video to bring some knowledge about OCD to general public really works for me. Good job and thanks!
Thank you for this video! I had debilitating OCD that started in 4th grade. I didn’t know what it was, but knew something was very wrong with me. Every day, normal life was hell and I would hide it because I was embarrassed. I had every aspect: checking, repetition, and order. Thankfully, I’m much better, I prayed for healing and did kind of a reverse psychology for myself. I constantly told myself that if I keep doing these rituals, the thing I’m doing so this thing won’t happen will happen to flip the script on myself.
I’ve also read that vitamin b deficiency could be related and now I’ve realized I have a gluten allergy and often have vitamin deficiencies, so I’m wondering if an undiagnosed celiac disease my whole life could have been a factor. My ocd got bad when my little brother was born. I think my brain wanted to control something in a very uncontrollable environment with a newborn around. I could see hormones being involved because I’ve always suffered from horrible acne and still do. Also, many mothers get postpartum ocd, I’ve heard.
I remember my ocd being triggered at 6 when my mom started drinking uncontrollably. ( the trying to control the situation). I had many rituals I had to do in a certain way. I was also sick a lot as a kid ( maybe a strep/ PANDAS connection) When I was 12, I decided to stop doing the rituals/ counting etc, then one day a mental form of OCD began in the form of intrusive thoughts which was very distressing ( worse to me than the earlier forms) Zoloft has helped as well as dietary changes. It's still distressing, but life is manageable and half the battle was learning that it was an actual condition. It also runs in my family. My 4 year old is showing signs of it and I worry, but am glad developments are being made. It also got way worse after having my 2nd child and that's when I sought help. People feel like they are all alone in their struggles, but so many are in the trenches with it.
I felt like the first 20 minutes of this podcast was about me. I'm 43 now but when I was 15 I remember telling my mother that something was wrong. I was obsessed with even numbers, stepping on cracks, washing my hands until they burned, etc. 30 years later I have managed to conceal my compulsions and they are less overt which also makes me feel like it's not as overwhelming as it was when I was younger but reality is that I still very much deal with it throughout the day. I left this comment within the first 20 minutes of the video because Andrew Huberman was SOOOO on point with his description. Even at 44, it's nice to be validated that what I have is a real thing that is understood.
Would love a podcast on Trichotillomania. A lot of people have it, but its super under diagnosed since a majority of people are so embarrassed about having it that they go to great lengths to hide it. Its always felt like a disorder thats fallen through the cracks.
I'd love one on body-focused repetitive behaviors too!
I have body dysmorphic disorder and dermatillomania, and I always figured it was just part of my OCD since they're related to obsessions.
I have searched for a long time for information on ADHD and body picking. It was trichotillomania but now it's my lip. My med for ADHD seems to be triggering the OCD. I haven't been able to find anyone in my area that has a clue. I know more at this point than professionals do. It's maddening 🤦♀️
I agree. I've been to doctors but none recognized my Trichotillomania. A psychologist recognized my OCD and since then I am on a discovery about my condition through the internet. It helped me knowing I was not alone!
An SSRI coupled with CBT and ACT along with ERP is the mix that has greatly helped me overcome purely obsessional OCD. You are not alone.
What SSRI worked well for you?
Sertraline HCL, commonly known as Zoloft. The lowest dose they can prescribe has worked quite well.
Are you still on Zoloft..generic is Serdep in South Africa..
what dosage are you on...are you still on zoloft.
I am not even particularly interested in this topic, but I greatly enjoyed your lecture. You have a great teaching style.
Thank you so much for this! Not only does it provide comfort for those of us who suffer but it brings compassionate awareness to those who may not understand what it is/what we go through. Your constant dedication to the mental landscape and equivalent sympathy for the human condition is remarkable. Keep doing what you’re doing! The world needs more of it.
I have been waiting for this episode for so long, thank you! I have struggled with OCD my whole life, and your content has truly helped me live a better life.
Huberman is like a modern day Superman the way he's out here saving lives with all this free public content that seems more useful than ever. A true living badass.
Thank you for this. I have been living with this for about 5 years now. I will use this podcast to show this to my future partner so that they can understand my concerns as it goes unexplained even if you try to explain it. It’s really debilitating. When it’s on his high it just makes me hate myself and even triggers suicidal thoughts. But it’s fine. I know it all passes. I have started therapy again.
Thank you for another fantasic and informative podcast! It may be worth noting that some compulsions manifest as self-harming or body-focused behaviours such as trichotillomania. It would be interesting to learn about cognitive behavioural therapy for this sub-type of OCD.
Thc: makes it worse
Cbd: makes it calm
Meditation: helps separate the thoughts, ability to see or recognize thoughts
Acceptance of thoughts has been key for me.
Good food, exercise and sleep seems to just be good.
Magnesium: helps
Great job on this issue. Have had ocd for 7 years, I’m 55 now.
I read books and have learned so much about the condition, but learned some more in your video.
ERP helped me take my life back. So hard, but worth it.
Your detailed discussion on ocd is a great help. My 13 years old son is having ocd since he is 10. He's scared of ghosts It went away automatically as he played around the house. Then again, it came with more strength. Then , I went for medication and the symptoms disappeared for few few months. After a few months he started increasing the rituals and stopped taking medicine
This proved fatal and his ocd became very severe
Now, he's on medication for 6 weeks Though the severity has lessened, the compulsion s and rituals are not decreasing.
My son has OCD. Family therapy has helped my wife and I understand his condition better. Our major concern is how he will be employed and happy in the future. He is bright, so I am hopeful. Your video, I am sure, will be a blessing to watch. Thank you.
Switch to Ketogenic diet / low carb. DNRS retraining program. Look for hidden factors: Allergy, lyme disease and co infections, etc. Always a root cause.
I have OCD and am an RN, have a wonderful marriage and am getting my Nurse Practitioner in psychiatry. It is very possible that your son will have a beautiful and bright future where he will understand the broad spectrum of the human experience.
@@saral355 Thank you for your hopeful message,
@@okidoki3201 Thank you.
I have OCD and just graduated from a very good school and work at a law firm before I go back to school to get my law degree. Everything will work out great!
Finally. This is the episode I've been waiting years for. Thank you Andrew!
I had a lot of obsessive behavior when I was a kid. I did everything in multiples of 4, I had to put the basketball around the pole 4 times before I finished playing. I had to turn the light switch on and off 4 times before going to sleep. I sometimes would clean the entire house when I was 7-8 years old. I had obsessive hand washing that led to me getting really dry hands. I was paranoid of undercooked foods and had to cook everything really well done.
The first time I smoked weed when I was 13 all of that behavior dissapeared.
I tried to explain that to a mental health professional and they told me I didn’t actually have OCD and that’s not possible.
I even started to drink raw eggs at one point. Completely 360’d my behavior
Thank you so much for this podcast. I have dealt with true OCD my entire life. It has taking me 32 years to learn to deal with this in a healthy matter. Thank you for sharing light on OCD bringing awareness and education.
I don't have OCD but a close family member does have it. She says being on her medications has freed her not to stress out and obsess over everything. She told me she feels so much more relaxed in her daily routine. I'm so happy she found a solution and is happier.
Can I ask what medication or family of medications she takes? I didn't know that there was medication for OCD
@@Jalle6673 I will have to ask her
@@Jalle6673 hey I haven't forgotten your request. I'm just hesitant to ask my cousin about which medications she is on for her OCD. We don't talk like we used to anymore and she a very sensitive person about her mental health problems. So I feel reluctant to ask her.
@@memastarful that's ok. I dint want you to be uncomfortable. I could call a pharmacist and try to find out what can be taken. Thanks!!
So grateful to hear this episode as a mom to a tween with diagnosed OCD. I wrote a kids book based on his experience to help other children, Louie and the Dictator. Half my royalties go to paediatric OCD research at BC Children's Hospital. Exposure and response therapy was a game changer when he was younger, but as he hits puberty, things are flaring up again. Grateful to learn more.
I'll leave that for anyone out there who may need it. I've had OCD for most of my life and lately started implementing Exposure and Response Therapy (on my own). I know Andrew encouraged not to and to seek a professional for obvious reasons but I wouldn't have seeked that help anyway, so I'd recommend professional help as well especially since I suppose you'd be more likely to stick to the regimen but for those like me who won't, here's what I've done. I started doing 5-7 minutes everyday after a meditation (not important with regards to the success of the treatment I think). I simply started saying trigger words for my particular obsessions and accepting and embracing the heightened state of fear and anxiety that followed. Initially I needed to hype myself up or get myself into a particular state of mind before starting, it sometimes took minutes. I also still couldn't help using a good amount of compulsions throughout the 5-minutes period but after 2-3 months now I almost never need them. My OCD in general has dropped so significantly that it barely gets in my way anymore, although it's worth mentioning I wasn't in a terrible OCD period prior to starting but it was still somewhat of a problem for daily life. You can't spend your life in fear, it's no way to live, and to stop doing that there's only one way, which is through the fear, you have to experience it and accept the things in life outside of your control which OCD makes you believe you have some control over or responsability in some way, you don't. OCD is simply a fancy term for the refusal to accept reality and what we cannot control, it's an addiciton to control and comfort.
very good. How do I talk to you?
What would you like to know?@@cleovanior
Thank you so much for this great podcast! I was diagnosed with OCD a few months ago and it has definitely opened my eyes and understanding to the person I am. Honestly makes me wonder if my daughter was misdiagnosed (BPD) bc she is my twin and has a lot of the same thoughts I have. She is just 1000 times more brave than me and told me about it so we can get her help, so thankful she doesn’t have to suffer half her life like I have.
Extremely comprehensive and amazing reporting of relevant research, as usual. The only thing I wish was mentioned more in detail is pure OCD and mental compulsions/checking associated with religion, sex, harm, and relationships! You briefly mentioned this as something that prevents a lot of people with OCD from ever seeking treatment due to the "taboo" nature of said thoughts. This category of OCD obsessions can be particularly harmful. As these thoughts often make the suffer feel an immense sense of shame and guilt. Awesome video! I'm extremely glad that you touch on topics of mental health. You are doing a great service!
I see the passion on this man, talking about mental health problems, how fit his is mentally and physically, he gives me hope just by listening to him, and believe me, I used to be a very confident person, but OCD ruined me!
many preople think ocd is all about order and cleanliness. there is so much more to it. it is a terrifying disorder.
Most people say that then still don't explain it to set the record straight
I was surprised that Dr. H didnt really depict whats known as “Pure O”, where the compulsions are primarily mental rather than physical. He touched on it just a little in the, “thoughts are not actions” section
I’ve just started CBT for OCD, I have EUPD as a partner disorder & always felt OCD was more of an annoyance even if it’s very time consuming. Exposure therapy is the most effective treatment for me as I’ve always felt the more compulsions I do, the more intrusive thoughts etc. If I ignore the early compulsions then usually I’ll get less triggers as the day goes on. Stress is also a massive trigger for me.
To add to the many comments already expressing this: THANK YOU for this. Thank you. Thank you for all the time, effort, and energy you and your team have put into researching this and making it easy to understand for us. For someone like me, a mom to a precious young son who has OCD, but who lives in a place where there isn't any well-trained OCD therapists, this episode was gold. Knowledge is power and it has helped me to understand what might be really useful for my son, and where I need to go for help. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart. X
ERP a.k.a Exposure and Response Prevention was one of the biggest tools that's helped me learn to better manage OCD.
This book is also great "The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD" by Jon Hershfield
As difficult as it has been, exposure therapy has worked wonders for me.
OCD has always felt just out of my scope in my treatment with clients. This helped relate it to a lot of things I can grasp and in a way that will be very helpful for many of my clients. Thank you.
Thankyou so much for making this. This means alot to me.
Thank You for sharing some of the vast information on this topic. My mother has suffered from severe OCD, including Trichotillamania, for decades. She has tried many treatments, in the end resorting to a type of brain surgery where they probed the frontal lobe and lasered or almost burned, the area thought to control OCD behaviours. This was done in 2003 and again, sadly in 2008, and left her ultimately brain damaged. I wonder if anyone else has heard of this surgery.
I’ve been moving through OCD from about age 6-8 onwards. It’s been challenging, but I have come out stronger from the knowledge and skills learnt in the process.
This podcast episode explains what the OCD condition is like very well. I can say CBT, good sleep and healthy diet/nutrition has an impact. I also take fish oil, magnesium citrate, drink 1-2L water daily and probiotics (15 strain) which helps a lot.
One thing I will caution about the condition and seeking therapy is to note - you’re not the condition. Don’t identify too much with it. See that it is a mechanism that will show up and challenge you but don’t encompass your identity in it.
Another thing is, read the book “the dare response” learn how to allow and accept the sensations of anxiety.
I hope everyone on here can get some form of effective treatment that works for them! Stay persistent and positive and know that this condition can be trained out, and you can have a normal life👍
My OCD is definitely on the milder side, but I can confirm that mindfulness when I was in the middle of it, took it to devastating and dark places. Thanks for explaining that - clearly I was focusing on the wrong thing.
I purchased the Alpha Stim device for electro cranial stimulation. I have experience too many side effects to take SSRI’s, and it’s not an understatement that the device changed my life. By reducing anxiety, it’s allowed me to tolerate the need to act on compulsions without it feeling like life or death.
I was in therapy for OCD for a few years. She really helped me with the compulsions dealing with organization, cleaning, and having to stop the car twice during every direction to check the tires. However, she didn't focus on the intrusive thoughts at all and that is what I am now struggling with the most.
Morning light was a great reason to buy a convertible. A chance to be cool without using glabrous tissue. Thanks for everything Professor Huberman 🙌
As someone with severe OCD, this helped me learn a lot about myself. I'm going to try using some cognitive behavioural therapy tactics because my medication does help, but OCD still ruins my life.
you should look at Dr Michael J Greenberg's articles. Super good info on the topic
This podcast opened up so many realizations and questions for me- listened 3 x already. My most urgent questions is how to find good quality help? Im suffering from OCD (and a few other things) as a downstream of trauma. It seemingly came out of nowhere and is completely debilitating, nothing's as I imagined OCD to be. It's really something you had to experience to believe that is not a "controllable" behavior. I tried finding mental help right after a near fatal accident in Feb 2020, just to mitigate damage given what I had been through, even though I still felt mentally like a rock star. I quickly realized that the process of finding help was more of a mental/emotional deriment than helpful. I eventually had a handful of online sessions, but they weren't helpful, more like the strategies I was already using so it was more like chatting with a buddy who had some good but "easily found elsewhere" tools which did nothing. So HOW DO I LOOK FOR HELP?? I'd love to pretend I can read enough books, listen to enough podcasts, do my own research and implement my own solutions, but I'm at the point where I need a hall monitor to make sure I'm not still out on the playground picking dandelions (yes, my OCD is pulling weeds in my lawn and I can't stop and it's absolutely like a prison). Gotta say thank you to Dr Huberman for helping me realize that there are actual changes in my brain which is why I cannot "will it away". This knowledge has very likely saved me from suicide as it devastating and confusing to fall to this from being a very highly functioning member of the medical community and a competitive athlete.
wish you the best
As someone with OCD, I appreciate your tackling such a complex subject. You did well and your knowledge was largely accurate. I want to add a few things for your interest and any listeners:
1) You mention CBT being so helpful. Yet, it's crucial to mention "ERP" (exposure and response prevention) as the type of CBT. In OCD therapy circles and groups, CBT is not frequently mentioned, but ERP is. Mentioning ERP and how exposure and response prevention works segues with the rest of your presentation, esp in terms of the logic for tolerating the anxiety (via response prevention) .
2) When you mention all the brain structures involved in OCD, it would have been great (and complete) to hear how anxiety interfaces within that design. I heard no mention of the amygdala or BSNT
3) According to the OCD Foundation there are 4 main categories of OCD, not 3:
Contamination & Washing
Doubt About Accidental Harm & Checking
Just Right OCD - Symmetry, Arranging, & Counting
Unacceptable Taboo Thoughts & Mental Rituals
4) Would also be helpful to mention the subtypes of OCD, especially because OCD is SO OFTEN DIAGNOSTICALLY MISSED by therapists and doctors. It could also help your listeners be able to identify (possible) OCD in themselves and in their friends/loved ones. Subtypes such as Pedophilia OCD, Responsibility OCD, Pure O, etc.
5) Exposure therapy CAN also be used for other forms of anxiety such as phobias, panic disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder, and even eating disorders.
6) Stress reduction techniques that are allopathic (versus the homeopathic method of ERP) such as breathing techniques and visualization can ALSO be helpful in OCD to reduce stress, as long as they are not done to the exclusion of ERP. This is true because OCD increases with general stress; managing general stress can help alleviate some OCD anxiety. Both/and often works better.
As someone who’s interested in psychology as well as neurobiology I think it would be really great to have a small series of the science behind some of the most prominent or interesting disorders.
I was diagnosed when I was about 19 and totally resisted CBT because my therapist at the time just told me to put a rubber band around my wrist and snap it when I had intrusive thoughts and put me on meds. I’m so glad you mentioned that meds may not be the right answer for everyone. SSRIs were particularly detrimental for my own physical and mental health and I had to find other ways to cope. I was functional for the most part but things got bad from time to time (often correlated with my menstrual cycle) and extremely so when I was postpartum. Fast forward to the past couple of years and the perfect storm of perimenopause, trauma, OCD, and Hashimoto’s led to me being severely debilitated. The good news is I finally found a therapist who hit the right notes with me using CBT and EMDR which has been extremely helpful. The GG OCD mental exercise app has also helped me reframe my beliefs about my intrusive thoughts and rituals and is a tool I suggest anyone with OCD or severe anxiety look into. It’s an inexpensive way to support treatment.
@@harish_kakar Do you mean chatting to people online? If so, that’s probably something for a therapist to answer. The app is the GG OCD app. I think the company is GGtude if you want to search for it. I have no affiliation with the company and can’t tell you much more about it. I just followed mental exercises on it daily for several months and it really did help me reframe my thoughts. I still use it when anxiety or intrusive thoughts pop up again.
As always, thank you for the work you're doing. I have a history since childhood of pure O OCD where there is very little if any compulsion and the distressing obsessional thoughts are the main complaint. They've also always been accompanied by physical sensations or hyperfixation on interoceptive information, including my heartbeat, how my clothes or shoes fit, how my body moves when I walk in public, or whether I need a restroom. They've all been incredibly distressing and would come on and then vanish abruptly after months or years. I'd love an episode that dives deep on the subject of interoception and how and when things can go wrong including chronic pain, both in the absence of injury and when the diagnosed "cause" of pain is still present but the pain goes away, both of which I also experience.
"Pure O" just means that compulsions are happening in your head, not externally where other people can see them
@@leakindt653 good point
This is the most comprehensive and helpful info on this topic I’ve ever seen and I’ve researched it all. I’ve suffered from this off and on my whole life. I’ve done my own experiments and I’ve discovered what the real cause is and you actually touched in it but most experts are missing the mark. You’ve come closest. No one realizes the answer is totally hormones!!! I’ve tested this theory repeatedly on myself and then my children grew up with the same hereditary hormonal issues and they have the same problems. I have low estrogen and my sons have low testosterone, which causes high cortisol and adrenaline that are the culprit for ocd and anxiety disorders. When I’ve taken estrogen my cortisol goes down and ocd and anxiety resolve. I’ve done it several times in my life in my 20’s, 40’s, 50’s, and menopause. This is the key. That’s why ssri’s and therapies don’t work completely because until you fix the hormones, which is the root cause, anything else is just a band aid. These hormones create serotonin themselves so if you replace the hormone you don’t need the ssri. Please do a peer reviewed paper and human lab study on this in your lab sir, and you will be the pioneer we need. You’re the man to do this.
This is gold for my OCD recovery! Thanks for such an informative video… it’s gonna help me so much ✨
I have had severe OCD and anxiety for a year and a half or more and nothing I did was working. I just found out I have had hyperthyroidism that started around that time and that my symptoms are likely from that or at least aggravating it. I will see after a few weeks of thyroid treatment if it goes away. 🤞 It is truly debilitating and I have experienced great suffering to the point of wanting to end my life because it won’t go away and any compulsions to make it better just makes it even worse and create other life problems and even ruin friendships. My obsessions revolve around not wanting to hurt people and also not wanting people to not like me so when the compulsions stress out the people around me it feeds into that. Such a nightmare. Thank you for covering this topic and mentioning that people are not bad or crazy. It helps. I suggest people check their thyroid if they are trying treatment and not seeing results.
Would like to hear an update on this if you can remember to 🙏
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Please give us an update if possible, your story sounds similar to mine and I'm really struggling 🙏
Thanks for the reminder! It took 4 dose changes to get my thyroid in a good range and my OCD symptoms are much less!! Yay! However I found out I also have complex post traumatic stress disorder which is likely the root of these fears of people I have. My obsessions are not gone but I am able to know how to deal with them more effectively and am learning to build healthy relationships with safe people to help rewire my brain. I am not sure what the long term game looks like for me but I am not very persistent with my dr. to have her check my thyroid regularly because that makes recovery impossible for me if my thyroid is off. Hope you are finding some answers in your situation as this truly is so difficult to go through.
@@Nicole-vw2iy Thank you so much for the update! I am so glad your doing better, this gives me hope 😊 I'm going for in depth thyroid testing next week and am working with a naturopathic and OCD therapist. The severe OCD hit me suddenly but like you, I have cptsd and bpd which intensifies things. Sending healing prayers your way
Thank you for this episode. It has helped me understand and find empathy for a family member who suffers debilitating OCD which affects everyone. I can't wait for the childhood and psychiatric disorders episode to come out.
d accord
I love the bodybuilder professor's podcast. He has actually helped many people and saved lives. I trust him.
Big thanks as always to yourself and all involved in making these happen! Peace